Interactive
SBC BARCELONA SUMMIT DIGITAL SEPTEMBER 8-11, BARCELONA
Superbet: rolling with the punches
Ahead of the SBC Barcelona Summit - Digital, Johnny Hartnett, CEO of
Superbet, explains how the operator has managed its workforce in response to the global lockdown and what it could mean for the retail arm of the business in the future.
Johnny Hartnett, CEO, Superbet
How has coronavirus impacted Superbet's operations?
Like most operators in the gaming industry it has had a pretty significant impact. We run 1,400 retail outlets and they have been closed since the middle of March since most countries across Europe went into lockdown. Tankfully, we have had no significant cases of coronavirus
P116 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
amongst our staff. Te secondary impact has been the cancellation of sporting fixtures which has reduced our sports revenue over the last couple of months. We are reasonably well capitalised from the investment Blackstone made into the business last year and the recent profitability of the organisation. So, it is not a very significant long-term threat but certainly has been in the short term.
How has Superbet managed the deployment of its workforce since the outbreak? Were there procedures in place for a worldwide pandemic?
Tere were no specific contingency plans relating to a pandemic but obviously we have managed the situation as things unfolded over the course of the first couple of months of the year. We have continued to pay all our staff in full. We believe people are the strongest driver of business success both today and in the
future. We understand people are going through personal pain at the minute so we have committed to pay all staff in full and are taking advantage of some of the relief we are getting from various governments to top up peoples salaries to the fullest extent we can so staff are getting paid as they were previously.
Te vast majority of our retail operators we have redeployed to either manage the shop estate to ensure we are as prepared as we can be once things begin to open up, whilst others have shifted to work in the online or customer care side of the business.
We are now spending a good deal of time considering when retail outlets will open, what we need to do to make sure that we protect our staff and the experience our customers are coming back to. We will follow the guidelines given by governments around social distancing and the number of people gathering in one
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