The face of the high street has changed greatly in recent years, as traditional retail chains abandon it for out of town shopping centres and the internet. In their places bookmakers, pawn shops and discount stores have sprung up – all three which have performed very well throughout the recession.
Betting shops in particular have begun to colonise UK high streets, leading some councils asking for more powers to curb their proliferation, particularly in socially deprived areas. Despite these pockets of opposition, the number of bookies shops has continued to grow, although there are still considerably less than in the late 1960s.
One of the most successful of today’s bookmakers is Irish based Paddy Power which has announced plans to further expand in the UK. The company plans to open 45 further shops across the country by the end of this year. The expansion follows the announcement of strong results between July and mid-November largely due to the summer of sport experienced in Britain over the summer.
During this period, revenues taken by Paddy Power increased by 23 per cent when compared with the same time last year. Like for like sales in UK premises also increased, this time by 5 per cent, with growth in the sports book field of an impressive 12 per cent.
In fact, the only aspect of business which failed to prosper were the gaming machines, which declined by 4 per cent. Yet this is hardly surprising, as research into the fixed odds betting terminals has revealed that users lost a total of £1 billion on the machines in 2011 – indicating that these may not be the safest of betting methods in the current financial climate.
The Australian arm of the business, acquired by Paddy Power in 2010 after the buyout of Sportsbet, also performed admirably. Revenues increased by 25 per cent, with the recently launched mobile phone aspect of the business accounting for 27 per cent of overall bets.
In a statement, Paddy Power expressed itssatisfaction that the business is continuing to go from strength to strength, but maintains that the overall focus is for the company to succeed well into the long term.
It said; “We also continued to progress our portfolio of newer online businesses and to invest in exploring other development opportunities to contribute to longer term growth.”
Do you think the overtaking of the UK’s high streets by betting shops is a positive thing, or do you believe it will simply encourage more people to gamble and cause “problem areas” in towns?
Should there be a limit on the number of betting shops allowed on a single high street in order to encourage diversity, or should popular chains be free to expand for as long as they can afford to?
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