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The job cuts, which represent approximately 3% of Bet365’s workforce, will be made across the company’s offices in Stoke-on-Trent, Malta and Gibraltar.
Bet365 attributed the job cuts to a “highly competitive trading environment, plus increased regulatory and tax-related costs”.
A Bet365 spokesperson said the company was working to limit the number of job losses and support employees affected by the changes.
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“It’s not a dark alley,” he continues. “It’s a large operator that’s regulated in other places, so it’s not the risk for the player that sometimes is implied.”
With the central challenge of tax to compete with, operators face a test of whether they can maintain growth while remaining competitive in an increasingly fierce market.
Escobar expects the competitive landscape to evolve as the market settles, with operators facing a different set of priorities from those that defined Peru’s initial regulatory rollout.
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“It’s profitable, it’s growing and it was for sale from a distressed vendor,” he says. “That combination rarely appears in regulated Europe, where scaling a B2C brand means paying up for customers against Flutter and Entain on thin margins.
“Africa isn’t saturated, but I wouldn’t call it easy either. Betway and the local incumbents are well dug in. The difference is that you’re competing for a market that’s still forming, at a fraction of the acquisition cost, and the operating margin is there if you get the payments and the product right. The risk is regulatory and currency rather than competitive.”
GiG’s immediate priority following the completion of the deal will be disciplined integration, says Richards. This includes bringing 888Africa’s financial reporting, compliance and operational processes in line with GiG’s standards.
