Chisholm Bookmakers’ turnover fell by 8% last year after the company battled against high costs and legal changes that hit the gambling industry.
Turnover at the Northumberland company fell from £45.6m in 2017 to £41.9m for the year ending April 30 2018.
The Ashington-headquarted firm has long complained about the high costs facing independent bookmakers, such as the high cost of wages.
Chisholm also claims the costs associated with Sports Information Services (SIS) is too high. SIS provides bookmakers with live video, pictures, data and on-screen graphics for use in its branches.
Speaking in the company’s accounts, managing director Howard Chisholm said: “The directors are disappointed with the results for the year. The high cost of media rights for betting shops continues to be a major issue for the company and to counter this we have taken a strategic decision to trade without the high cost of the SIS services.
“The continuing above inflation increase in the rate of the National Living Wage has impacted the business due to our geographic location in the North East of England.”
Chisholm’s drop in turnover led to the chain posting an operating loss of £132,000 for 2018, compared with an operating profit of £113,000 in 2017. It also made a loss after tax of £147,000 during 2018.
Mr Chisholm also used his company’s financial accounts to express his disapproval of the Government’s decision to reduce the maximum stake on fixed-odd betting terminals from £100 to £2.
It has been reported that some high street bookmakers derive more than half of their revenue from fixed-odds machines, which offer punters the chance to play games such as roulette and slot machines. Each terminal is estimated to bring in an average of £52,887 a year.
Mr Chisholm said: “Changes to legislation and regulation continues to present the highest risk to the business.
“In the 2018 Triennial Review of stakes and prizes for gaming machines, the Minister chose to ignore the evidence provided by the betting industry and reduced the maximum stakes in the B2 category of gaming machines to £2.
“An evidenced based decision would not have reduced maximum stakes in the B2 category to below £40 but there was considerable pressure from abolitionists in Westminster to set the stake at a level which attempts to close the maximum number of betting shops.”
Chisholm, where employment numbers rose slightly during the accounting period to 154, said smaller betting shops were most at risk of closure. The company said that “we continue to rationalise the estate and a number of small shops were closed during the year”.
