Ladbrokes owner GVC faces probe by UK tax authority

21 July 2020

Ladbrokes owner GVC has said it is "stunned" the UK's tax body is widening a questions into "possible business offending" related to its previous Turkish online gambling system.

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

GVC sold its Turkish company in December 2017.
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The business said it was co-operating with investigation.

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GVC were notified of the development on Monday, however stated it had yet to be informed of which of its subsidiaries were being examined.
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It stated it was "surprised by the decision to extend the investigation in this promotion code way and are disappointed by the lack of clearness supplied by HMRC as to the scope of its examination".
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"HMRC has actually not yet supplied details of the nature of the historical conduct it is investigating, with the exception of a referral to area 7 Bribery Act 2010, nor has it clarified which part of the GVC group is under investigation."
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Section 7 states that a commercial organisation is guilty of an offense if a person associated with that business allurements another individual to get or retain business, or to get or keep a benefit in the conduct of service.

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

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

HMRC decreased to comment.
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In July 2019, GVC was required to deny reports that it was still gaining from its previous Turkish subsidiary, stressing that it no longer had ties with the company.
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"The board re-iterates the truth that subsequent to the disposal of the group's Turkish-facing company, GVC has no activity either directly or indirectly linked to the Turkish market," GVC said.
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"Furthermore, the board also unconditionally refutes recommendations that the group, or senior management, continue to benefit from any operations servicing the Turkish market."

Liz Coleman, previous HMRC tax inspector and specialist of advisory company Integrated Dispute Resolution, said the investigation could go on for a long time.
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"HMRC examinations are generally lengthy and considering the size of GVC it could be going on for years, although if there's a targeted technique it could be shorter," she said.

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

The HMRC's decision comes just a week after Kenneth Alexander announced that he was stepping down as GVC's president.
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Mr Alexander took control of in 2007 and supervise the business's acquisitions of rivals Ladbrokes Coral and Bwin.party.
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GVC reported a 22% drop in overall net profits for the second this promotion code year due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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