William Hill, which operates worldwide and employs around 16,600 people, has made the decision to reduce the number of betting sites it has in Ireland by 20. Reports suggest that the company has carried out a two month investigation into some of its 2300 licensed betting offices to identify which sites to close.

The company, which has head offices in the UK, Republic of Ireland and Gibraltar, handles more than a million bets a day. The cities of Cork, Limerick, Dublin, Tralee and Wexford in Ireland are where the company is considering making cuts. Around 85 employees are likely to be effected by the closures although as many employees as possible will be considered for roles at other sites.

In 2009 the company closed 14 betting sites which reportedly cost the company €2.8m. Following a challenging year in the retail and online divisions the company has announced the further proposed closures.

The gambling giant has made a number of decisions in relation to growth opportunities which have backfired. William Hill had withdrawn from the Italian online gambling market just 18 months after it entered it with an estimated loss of £1million. A software program that was being worked on in house was scrapped after an estimated £26million loss.

William Hill released a statement in relation to the proposed closures: “The shops selected for closure have not been trading profitably for some time, in spite of efforts made by William Hill to return these shops to profitability. There are no implications for the wider William Hill estate in Ireland or Britain, although the profitability of individual shops is kept under constant review.”