LADBROKES staff locally are waiting to hear whether theirs will be among the 60 branches which are to close across the country.

The betting shop chain said it expected to close more stores this year on top of the 89 already shut.

It said it would not be revealing the locations of the threatened branches ahead of consultation with staff.

The company expects 60 to close this year, with the business facing “significant headwinds” from the March 1 increase in machine gaming duty from 20 per cent to 25 per cent and the recent levy of a point of consumption tax.

In the second quarter of this year, new regulations are being introduced on the staking of more than £50 on gaming machines.

Ladbrokes has 16 branches locally.

In Bournemouth, it has shops in Commercial Road; Old Christchurch Road; two in Holdenhurst Road; Poole Road, Westbourne; Christchurch Road, Boscombe; Wimborne Road, Moordown; Portman Terrace, Southbourne; Christchurch Road, Pokesdown; and Ringwood Road, Wallisdown.

In Poole, there are branches in Commercial Road, Lower Parkstone; the Neighbourhood Centre, Canford Heath; and the High Street.

There are also branches in Station Road, West Moors; Institute Road, Swanage; Station Road, New Milton; and West Street, Blandford.

Chief executive Richard Glynn, who is leaving the company this year, said: “We are confident that Ladbrokes is competitive with clear plans to improve our business and positioned to deliver a good result in 2015.”

Profits were 13.5 per cent down at £98m in 2014 after a strong World Cup performance was offset by an “exceptionally high” loss of £8.1m on Boxing Day football, when leading Premier League teams secured victories, the company said.

Across all its platforms, the company said the day’s fixtures represented its worst football daily loss on record. It also reported weaker staking trends, particularly for racing, across the year.

The company said it had closed the previous 89 shops without compulsory redundancies.

Ladbrokes said: “We continue to optimise the performance of our estate and expect to close a further 60 shops during 2015. We will again try to limit the impact of these closures on our teams.”