SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Betfred has announced the closure of its Tote Park Wigan call centre. The call centre was inherited from its 2011 £250 million acquisition of former state-owned betting operator Tote.
The closure of the call centre could see 14 full-time and 98 part-time employees lose their jobs, although the company says that, given the size of the overall enterprise, it would hope that at least some of those former call centre workers could be re-deployed elsewhere.
Betfred management detailed that that the operator and affected employees had entered a consultation period involving union representatives.
Betfred CEO John Haddock said: “We are entering into a period of consultation with staff in our call centre based in Wigan and consequently 14 full-time and 98 part-time jobs are at risk.
“Unfortunately the call centre at the moment is no longer viable, especially with the significant shift towards mobile and digital betting. In the event of closure we would endeavour to redeploy a number of our staff across the Betfred Group.”
Emma Barton, Wigan Council’s Assistant Director for Economic Development said: “We are saddened to learn that this Wigan-based company has gone into administration. We will be in touch with the administrator to see if employees who have lost their jobs require support to enable them to re-gain employment as soon as possible.”
