Peter Erskine quits as Ladbrokes chairman a month after chief leaves

The chairman of Ladbrokes has announced he will leave the beleaguered bookmaker just a month after its chief executive departed the company.

Mr Erskine has been the FTSE 250 company's chairman since 2009. He supported former chief executive Richard Glynn , who came under fire from shareholders over the company's poor performance, particularly online.

John Kelly, a non-executive director and founder and former chief executive of Gala Coral, will lead the search for Mr Erskine's successor.

In a statement, Peter Erskine said: “Since becoming chairman six years ago,  Ladbrokes has undertaken the necessary and difficult journey to modernise much of our business operations to enable us to compete more effectively in a rapidly changing digital market and a challenging retail and political environment. In that time real progress has been made.

"In recent months I, and the board, have overseen the transition from Richard Glynn to a new CEO, Jim Mullen. I feel that now, with stronger foundations in place and with our new CEO looking to build on the changes made, it is the right time for there to be a change in chairman to one who will be able to see out the entirety of the next stage of the journey."

Traders have also increased their bets on Ladbrokes share price going down. According to Markit, 8.9pc of the total stock is out on loan - the highest proportion since October 2013.