DOZENS of retail jobs in the north are at risk after William Hill announced plans to axe almost a third of its betting shops across the UK.
The bookmaker warned yesterday a "large number of redundancies" are expected as it entered into a consultation process over proposals to close around 700 shops.
William Hill has said around 4,500 UK staff are affected by the closures, due to begin before the end of this year, and confirmed it includes the real estate in Northern Ireland, which totals 33 stores, employing an estimated 180 people.
The London-headquartered business operates around 2,300 shops across the UK and employs 12,500 staff.
William Hill has blamed the closures on the UK Government's decision to slash the maximum stake on controversial fixed-odds betting terminals (FOTBs) to £2 in April, which has hammered bookmakers' sales.
"Since then the company has seen a significant fall in gaming machine revenues," a statement read.
The bookmaker said a "large number of redundancies" are anticipated through the streamlining of the business and staff will be redeployed where possible.
"The group will look to apply voluntary redundancy and redeployment measures extensively and will be providing support to all colleagues throughout the process," they said.
Retail NI chief executive, Glyn Roberts said the closures are a concern for the local high street.
"Any business that closes on the high street results in less footfall for the surrounding traders and leaves another vacant space. Northern Ireland already has the highest shop vacancy rate in the UK so it is a cause for concern," he said.
"In a lot of ways though it is not totally unexpected given the big growth in online gambling and the fact you can now bet easily through an app on your phone. It all means less and less people are now going into the traditional bookies."
