Ladbrokes Coral is set to close its Tel Aviv office by the end of the year, putting around 140 marketing, tech, and other jobs at risk
Ladbrokes Coral is putting up the shutters of its Tel Aviv office, a spokesperson for the gambling operator’s parent company GVC Holdings told the Calcalist Tech earlier this week. The decision is part of a marketing reshuffle, it also became known.
The announcement comes just a year after Ladbrokes Coral revealed plans to double its Tel Aviv workforce to 200 from 100 employees.
Ladbrokes Coral’s office occupies an entire floor in the Azrieli Sarona tower in Tel Aviv. The gambling giant originally set foot in the heavyweight tech hub in 2013. Back then, it laid off more than 100 employees involved in its digital operations in the UK and transferred a number of key tasks to its newly opened Tel Aviv office.
Ladbrokes Coral has not been the only major gambling operator to announce its departure from Israel in recent years. Rival powerhouse William Hill closed its Tel Aviv office in 2017. The British bookmaker’s Israeli operation was, too, located in the Azrieli Towers. Around 250 people were employed at the local office at the time, and more than 200 of them were laid off as a result from William Hill’s decision to leave.
140 Jobs At Risk
Ladbrokes Coral said earlier this week that the 140 employees at its Tel Aviv office would be either laid off or offered to relocate at some of the company’s other offices. Marketing positions at the soon-to-be-closed office will be transferred to Gibraltar, it became known, while tech positions will be relocated to GVC’s office in Hyderabad, India.
A spokesperson for Ladbrokes Coral’s parent company said that they will make sure their workers are treated in a “fair and compassionate” manner and are offered assistance in their next career pursuits.
Ladbrokes Coral joined GVC Holdings last spring when the latter company cleared some final regulatory hurdles and was given the green light to complete the £3-plus-billion takeover. The move created one of the world’s largest gambling companies.
And while the newly enlarged group recently posted solid financial results for 2018, it expects its 2019 revenue and profits to suffer a serious blow from the crackdown on fixed-odds betting terminals in the UK.
Ladbrokes Coral is the operator of the largest UK chain of betting shops, which means that the impact from the recent reduction of the maximum stake on FOBTs to just £2 from £100 would be enormous. Its parent company has warned that it could be forced to shutter up to 1,000 betting shops in order to be able to adjust to the new regulatory regime.
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