Bet-at-home to lay off 65 employees

The Betclic Everest-owned brand has approved a restructuring plan after following a drop in its revenue forecast.

UK.- Bet-at-home is to lay off 65 employees under a restructuring plan after deciding to withdraw its online casino offering from Austria due to legal issues.

The company said the plan aims to “adjust the group’s structure to lower revenues”.

The Betclic Everest-owned brand announced in October that it would stop offering online casino in Austria due to lawsuits brought by players seeking to recoup losses from unlicensed operators on the grounds that gambling with the operators was illegal (Allwyn’s Casinos Austria is the only operator licensed to offer online casino in the country).

The company has also seen revenue fall in Germany because of the requirements of the newly regulated market. However, Bet-at-Home said it remained confident in its future growth opportunities.

It said: “With almost 200 highly qualified and dedicated employees, the Bet-at-Home Group is very well positioned for positive economic development.”

Bet-at-Home had expressed confidence that eventually it would win the legal cases in Austria, but said in October that it had become unclear how long the legal process would drag on.

As such, continuing to offer online casino presented a “steadily increasing risk potential that appears indefensible overall”.

As a consequence, it has reduced its revenue and earnings expectations for 2021. It now forecasts revenue between €93m and €98m, down from a predicted €100m-€110m. 

There have been similar legal cases in Germany, but the courts have ruled that players should have known that gambling was illegal and that they themselves had therefore knowingly broken the law.