Entain CEO Mulls Returning $136M Coronavirus Relief Payout After Bad Press

Entain chief-executive Jette Nygaard-Andersen has said her fellowship may coming back the £102 million (US$136 million) it claimed inwards coronavirus ministration payments. That’s following a media backlash around the perceived abuse of taxpayers’ money.

But then again, she said, it mightiness not.

Last week, The Guardian complained the UK-based gambling giant had claimed the cash in hand — £57.5 zillion (US$78 million) in 2020 and £44 gazillion (US$60 million) inward 2021 — despite revenues of £3.6 billion (US$4.9 billion) inwards 2020. Profits after assess were £114 million (US$155 million).

Entain said it used the “furlough money” to hold on its 14,000 employees at its land-based Ladbrokes Coral betting shops on replete(p) pay. That was at a time when the outlets were mostly forced into law of closure past the pandemic.

‘Under Review’

Sports betting revenues were smash firmly by the closures, and inwards 2020 past the widespread cancellation of global sports. But The Guardian noted that profits rose for Entain’s online gambling casino trading operations during lockdown, which allowed revenues to remain at pre-pandemic levels.

In an question with The Telegraph on Saturday, Nygaard Andersen said the money could be returned inward the coming months. But the board had to remain conservative because the pandemic was far from over.

During the pandemic and the lockdown, we’ve been able-bodied to reinforcement our colleagues and make up them 100 percent of their pay,” she said.

“The computer virus is still here. And as it is, although improving, it’s noneffervescent far from sure how this will frolic out,” she added. “The board is keeping, and testament uphold to keep, the state of affairs below review. But it’s just too early.”

Image Problem

The UK gaming manufacture is taking its defective press out seriously at the moment – and there’s plentifulness of it. The country’s regime has pledged to reform the nation’s 2005 Gambling Act, which established ace of the most liberalist regulated online play markets inward the world.

Operators are only too aware that for each one disconfirming column in piles pressure level on lawmakers to fasten regulatory controls, which would doubtless stymy manufacture ontogeny and innovation.

Entain has been at the forefront of efforts to march the manufacture is capable of responsible self-regulation. They are spearheading the self-imposed “whistle-to-whistle” ban on advertising around televised sports events, for example.

It is somewhat unfair, the report that our manufacture has,” Nygaard-Andersen told The Telegraph. “It is utterly important for me that our customers interpret that we feature their refuge at heart, and that they regard us as a trusted entertainment provider.”

She said she wants on that point to be “a level-headed balance” inward the upcoming reforms, adding that uttermost(a) measures would propel gamblers towards the unregulated “black market.”