Bet365 bids farewell to telephone betting

One of the last major operators to offer telephone betting in the UK has dropped the legacy service due to lack of demand.

UK.- Bet365, one of the UK’s largest betting operators, has finally bid farewell to the telephone betting service it created on the company’s launch back in 2000.

It confirmed it had shut down the service’s phone number due to a lack of demand.

The company, which is owned by the Coates family, was one of the few operators to continue offering the legacy service, but it said in a statement that it had become “such a minimal part of our business that it didn’t justify the staffing levels.”

Bet365 launched its telephone betting service in 2000 from its offices in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. It said all staff still working on the service were being transferred to new positions. Bettors who were still using the telephone service have been urged to contact the company to transfer their accounts to Bet365’s digital offering.

Telephone betting accounts for a very small percentage of revenue for the companies that still offer the service. GVC Holdings’ Ladbrokes and Coral are now the only highstreet bookmakers that maintain the service, which is currently suspended due to lockdown orders. 

Bet365 saw revenue grow by 10 per cent for the 12 months ending March 31, reaching €3.5billion.