Paddy Power has revealed a striking difference between the retail behaviour of customers in Britain and Ireland as both countries emerge from lockdown.
The company operates 250 betting shops here and 350 in Britain.
In the third quarter of the year, the results for which it published yesterday it has revealed that while activity in shops in Britain is up nine per cent over the same period last year, in Ireland the figure is down 27 per cent.
Stricter controls on shop opening during that summer period last year here than was the case across the water will be responsible for much of that but CEO Peter Jackson also highlighted the presence in British shops of Fixed Odds Betting terminals, casino-style gaming machines that account for a significant proportion of turnover there.
The return from betting shops overall is running at 90 per cent of where it was in 2019, though clearly less in Ireland.
97 per cent of the estate in both countries was open in the corresponding period last year but then too, the impact was harder in Ireland with revenue declining by 21 per cent on what it had been in 2019.
Jackson committed to the betting shop remaining an important part of the business though with online stakes and revenue both up 17 per cent and the number of players around the world climbing by 13 per cent 6.4 to 7.2 million, the business is clearly moving at a different pace elsewhere.
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