Ladbrokes is Pulling the Plug on its Canadian Operations to Focus on Sportsbetting in the UK

The Canadian market only provides a tiny proportion of Ladbrokes’ global revenue so the company decided it was time to pull out.

Ladbrokes, operator of hundreds of betting shops worldwide as well as online sportsbooks in the UK, has announced plans to close its operations in Canada due to concerns about the regulatory environment there.

The company has already seen profits fall in 2014 due to the British government raising taxes on Fixed-Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) and online betting revenues and has decided that the Canadian market is too risky, and too small, moving forward.

In an e-mail message to its Canadian customers the company announced that it would no longer accept bets from them and advised them to withdraw all deposits within 30 days. While Canadian gambling laws are more liberal than in the US, its betting market is much more heavily regulated than that of the UK, for example.

Ladbrokes is consolidating its operations in select markets

After the announcement an official statement from the company said the following: “We continually review the markets we operate in based on legal advice and Canada is not a material contributor… The vast majority of our business is UK and Ireland, with a focus on Australia, Spain and Belgium for the future.”

The announcement came after competitor William Hill announced that it would close down its operations in 50 small-market countries and focus on serving customers in the UK, Ireland and Europe as well.