Betfred workers are facing pay cuts that see them lose as much as 50% of their salary in a new shake up by the owner Fred Done; and Betfred partner with Degree 53 to create an international lottery app for Windows users.
Fred Done is once again being cast in the role of the ‘villain’ after The Mirror have followed up on the pre Christmas news from The Guardian that employees at Betfred retail outlets are going to be facing wage cuts as high as 50%.
The story suggests that they are in possession of consultation papers that show plans to create a cost cutting exercise that will save the Betfred owner some serious Wonga in the opex department.
There are plans to remove the position of ‘Shop Manager’ and replace them with a reduced number of ‘Area Managers.’ So instead of one manager per shop, you will now have one manager per five shops; and there are also plans to bring every employee under the same terms of conditions. Betfred currently operates around 1.4k shops in the UK.
Insiders told the Mirror that they would expect to see their £15 per hour wages drop as low as £9, and they are also concerned over plans to link pay to the success of the Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) despite David Cameron’s recent shot across the bows that they are a “problem that needs to be addressed”.
One unidentified shop manager told The Mirror: “If this goes through I will have to sell my house because I won’t be able to afford the mortgage any longer.” Another said: “I could be losing £8,000 to £10,000 a year, depending on what happens with my overtime.”
A spokesman for Betfred told The Mirror: “Betfred is in discussion with its staff and the union on how we manage our betting shops in the future.
“There are no proposed redundancies and the changes will offer our staff progression to more senior management positions.
“We believe that the proposals will drive the company forward and secure the future of the business.”
The company saw profits rise 30% to £69m in the year ending last April.
Betfred Release a New Lottery App
So with the operating expenditure out of the way let’s look at Betfred’s strategy for income.
Just before Christmas we brought you news that Fred Done had invested in a mobile app design company called Degree 53, and their first piece of work is ready to hit the shelves.
Betfred and Degree 53 have partnered with Microsoft to launch the first gambling app of its kind to appear in the Windows and Windows Phone stores. The app is an international lottery app that allows users to play the lottery in up to 12 different countries.
The app allows the user to save their lucky numbers or use the lucky dip functionality, and also acts as a social media network allowing players to share their results, gossip and gander.
The app was developed for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 by Degree 53 and took just 8-weeks to complete.
Betfred.com managing director Chris Sheffield commented that partnering with Microsoft was a “monumental” deal, and a real coup for the company.
“I’ve no doubt the partnership will propel us in our mission to become the front-runners in mobile gambling and gaming, especially in the lottery sector,” Sheffield said.
Daniels described Microsoft as “a trusted brand that delivers outstanding products and whose quality control is second to none.”
