William Hill has said it remains "on track" to hit forecasts after closing 700 of its betting shops following the Government crackdown on fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs).
The gambling giant closed the stores, which it said would impact 4,500 jobs, during the past 17 weeks as it sought to mitigate the impact of the reduction of the FOBT minimum stake to £2 from £100.
William Hill said the legislative change heavily impacted its UK retail business, driving like-for-like sales in the division down by 16% since the previous half year.
Ulrik Bengtsson, chief executive of William Hill, said: "We have remodelled the UK retail estate, while the UK online business has benefited from a series of customer facing improvements evidenced in the stabilising market share in the last two quarters.
"In addition, we expect our international online business to benefit from a number of important product improvements that will be delivered over the coming quarters.
"We undoubtedly have great people and a shared vision at William Hill. Our job now is to push on and do even better in terms of customer focus and execution."
