Bookmaker William Hill has said it plans to close 700 betting shops in the U.K. This puts 4,500 jobs at risk.
The firm said that the move followed the government's decision in April to reduce the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals to £2. Since then the company said that it has seen a fall in gaming machine revenue.
William Hill currently has 2,300 shops in the U.K. and employs 12,500 employees.
The bookmaker is looking to apply voluntary redundancies and redeployment measures extensively and will be providing support to all colleagues.
The government cut the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals, which had previously been £100 (€112), because of widespread concern that players were able to lose large amounts of money in a short space of time.
In its annual report, published in March, William Hill forecast that the government's decision would reduce betting shop sales by up to £100m (€111.55m) a year and could lead to the closure of up to 900 stores.
