Last updated: March 12, 2024
Flutter Entertainment is restructuring its Irish betting portfolio by closing 21 Paddy Power betting shops in anticipation of forthcoming reforms in Ireland’s gambling industry.
Paddy Power has 241 shops in the country right now. This is not the first time the company has had to cut back on its stores. In Ireland, the company closed a few of its locations after COVID-19 hurt the gambling business.
The change comes after both a shift in how people feel about gambling and a shift in where people are betting. Moving toward online betting and gambling is still going on, and Ireland is also going through a change.
Seventeen of the 21 stores that Paddy Power is closing because they are “underperforming” are in Dublin, the capital of Ireland. Some of the shops on the list are in Galway, Waterford, Kilkenny, Old Bawn, Dalkey, Old Bawn, Clonmel, Cloghran, Waterford, Kilkenny, Rathdrum, Templemore, Kells, New Ross, Athy, Parkgate Street, Blackrock, Ennis, and Cork.
78 current Paddy Power employees will be affected by the closure, but Flutter said the company would help them find new jobs at other locations. People who can’t move will sometimes have to find work somewhere else.
According to Flutter, Paddy Power is still doing well in Ireland, but these shops aren’t doing as well as they could be. The company didn’t say what level of underperformance it considers, but it did say that it’s seeing “market share gains” in Ireland and the UK.
The online gaming market is still growing, according to the most recent data. Statistica says that the Irish market for online sports betting was worth $295.8 million last year and could reach $315 million this year. We think it will reach $370 million by 2027.
Ireland is changing its gambling laws in a way that is similar to how the UK is changing the way its gambling industry works. It looks like everything about Irish gambling is going to change so far.
This has made people in the industry very worried, especially since it doesn’t look like lawmakers are taking the difference between skill games and chance games into account. The activity could be in trouble with the law if it has ever been linked to the word “gambling.”
The racing industry thinks that the changes, like putting limits on bets and advertising watersheds for betting operators, will completely turn the industry on its head. A famous horse trainer named Barry Connell doesn’t see much good in the future of racing after the changes that have been made.
If racing is taken off of TV, which Connell calls a “Armageddon situation,” owners and trainers who work in the industry will not be able to follow the sport. Very often, people who own horses can’t get to the races, and it’s very important that they can be able to watch their horses run, he told Racing Post. If that option wasn’t there, there would be a huge drop in ownership, which would hurt the industry and cost the government a lot of money in taxes.
Any part of the gaming market will have to follow the new rules, as the Irish government has already made it clear. With the new research coming out this week, it will be impossible for anyone to be against the proposed changes.
The Irish Examiner has seen a report that the Economic and Social Research Institute is putting out on Thursday that doesn’t look good for Ireland’s gambling industry. It says that ten out of every hundred Irish gamblers have a problem with gambling.
The news source says this is “10 times higher” than what previous studies showed. According to the ESRI, this “seriously changes how we think about the part that gambling plays in Irish life.”
If the research doesn’t get criticized, the report will also have big effects on how the government moves forward with its reforms. The study was asked for by a group led by the government that is in charge of setting up Ireland’s new gambling regulator.
Will is a former Grosvenor croupier who relocated to Chicago from London in 2013. Not only is he a highly skilled poker player, but he is also an expert in the art of deception, gambling cons, and the world of crypto. Now he uses his knowledge and experience to write and edit detailed reviews of online casinos in a bid to help players avoid online scams and losing their money to rogue gambling sites.
