14
Part 2 : The picture in 2020 British retail betting report
and judgments for what ’ s in store for the sector must necessarily take into account what might turn out to be the long-term effects from the recent ( and still ongoing at the time of writing ) lockdowns .
HOW BAD WAS 2020 ?
In short , 2020 was disastrous for retail . Net revenue at William Hill fell 50 % on the year to £ 354.2m , while at rival Entain it was off by 40 %. At Paddy Power , the fall in UK retail was a slightly more palatable 28 %, compared with a 40 % decline in Ireland .
It could have been even worse . Margins at both operations rose , by 150 basis points over the previous year at Entain to 19.5 % in 2020 , while at William Hill the margin performance hit 19.9 %, which was 140 basis points
Chart 23 : Entain UK
£ m
1600
1400 1391.1
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0 2017
Source : Company rep
better than the previ also a margin effect a which said that the b from the UK estate c shops in Ireland was favourable sporting r