23rd May 2019, 15:05
Redundancies at Bet365 as company relocates Gib operation to Malta due to Brexit uncertainties
Published by GBC News
Bet365, a gaming company based in Gibraltar, has announced a relocation of operations to Malta. GBC understands that employees have been given redundancy notices at a staff meeting today. A spokesperson for the company has said it continues to operate in a highly uncertain environment driven primarily by the Brexit landscape.
However, GBC understands that some employees have already been given redundancy notices. The Government for its part says its working with bet365 to minimise the impact on Gibraltar.
In May 2018, almost a year to the day, Bet365 reacted to an article in the Maltese Press suggesting it would move nearly a thousand employees from Gibraltar to Malta as 'speculation' and 'inaccurate'. At the time the company said it would retain its strong presence in Gibraltar and its commitment to the Rock, also vowing to retain its dual regulatory and licensing strategy.
But the company now says it has become "increasingly challenging" to efficiently run such multisite operations and this has led to them conducting a review of operations.
In answers to GBC questions, bet365 has confirmed that it employs over 500 people in Gibraltar, and all employees are being offered the opportunity to relocate to Malta in their current roles. However it says it will not make any comment regarding redundancies at this stage. It says the final rationalisation will be determined after a staff consultation process has been carried out.
Reacting to the news, the Government says it has worked very constructively with bet365 on the issues that have led to the decisions that company has announced today and to mitigate the effects on Gibraltar.
A spokesperson for No6 says it's clear that the decisions announced by bet365 are directly related to Brexit and not to any matter otherwise related to Gibraltar.
The Government says it will continue to work with bet365 through its period of staff consultation and rationalisation in order to seek to ensure that the footprint of bet365 in Gibraltar remains substantial.
It says Gibraltar remains the best jurisdiction in the world from which to do well regulated, reputable online gaming business – and is the only jurisdiction guaranteed access to the United Kingdom market in online gaming going forward.