Ladbrokes owner GVC faces probe by UK tax authority

21 July 2020

Ladbrokes owner GVC has stated it is "surprised" the UK's tax body is widening a questions into "potential business upseting" associated with its former Turkish online betting system.

It said HM Revenue & Customs had actually broadened its probe into providers GVC utilized in Turkey to consist of other entities within its group.

GVC offered its Turkish company in December 2017.

The business stated it was co-operating with investigation.

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GVC were notified of the development on Monday, but said it had yet to be informed of which of its subsidiaries were being examined.

It stated it was "surprised by the choice to extend the examination in this promotion code method and are dissatisfied by the lack of clarity supplied by HMRC regarding the scope of its examination".

"HMRC has actually not yet supplied information of the nature of the historical conduct it is investigating, with the exception of a referral to section 7 Bribery Act 2010, nor has it clarified which part of the GVC group is under investigation."

Section 7 states that a commercial organisation is guilty of an offence if a person related to that business kickbacks another person to get or retain business, or to get or retain a benefit in the conduct of company.

GVC's share cost was down 10.6% to 778.2 p on Tuesday following the news.

The UK Gambling Commission told the BBC that it was "helping" with the examination.

HMRC decreased to comment.

In July 2019, GVC was forced to reject reports that it was still benefiting from its previous Turkish subsidiary, worrying that it no longer had ties with the company.

"The board re-iterates the fact that subsequent to the disposal of the group's Turkish-facing business, GVC has no activity either directly or indirectly connected to the Turkish market," GVC said.

"Furthermore, the board also categorically refutes ideas that the group, or senior management, continue to take advantage of any operations servicing the Turkish market."

Liz Coleman, former HMRC tax inspector and expert of advisory company Integrated Dispute Resolution, stated the examination could go on for a long time.

"HMRC investigations are usually lengthy and thinking about the size of GVC it might be going on for several years, although if there's a targeted approach it could be shorter," she stated.

"They have to analyse all the computer system records too, so this promotion code could add a lot more time."

The HMRC's decision comes simply a week after Kenneth Alexander revealed that he was stepping down as GVC's president.

Mr Alexander took control of in 2007 and manage the company's acquisitions of rivals Ladbrokes Coral and Bwin.party.

GVC reported a 22% drop in overall net incomes for the 2nd quarter this promotion code year due to the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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