British bookmaker William Hill has unveiled its financial results for the four months since it reported its first-half results and confirmed that it was a higher demand for online gambling services and its rapid expansion on the US market that helped.
In the light of stricter regulatory regime in its home market, where the British Government reduced the maximum stake permitted on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) from £100 to £2, William Hill is now focusing on its online gambling operations. As a result of the maximum stake reduction, the British gambling company has closed about 700 of its betting shops in the country and has become more oriented to overseas markets, especially the sports betting sector in the US after it has recently been made legal.
Back in September, the company announced the promotion of Ulrik Bengtsson, the boss of William Hill’s digital operations, to the position of Chief Executive Officer as part of the company’s efforts to become more digitalised in the years to come.
Moreover, the company is to continue its aggressive in the US, where it wants to take advantage of the sports betting market. The British bookmaker is already operational in ten US states and is running a mobile betting application. Only recently, the company announced the purchase of CG Technology’s sportsbook assets, which also include its operations in Nevada and the Bahamas.
William Hill to Proceed a Goal of Further Digitalisation
US states were officially allowed to legalize sports betting for the first time in May 2018 after the US Supreme Court slashed the ban imposed on the sector. Quite understandably, William Hill was one of the companies that were most willing to expand their presence in the newly-opened market. As a result, for the time being, the British gambling giant says it holds a 26% share of the US sports betting sector and operates in 10 of the 13 states in which sports betting is legal.
As revealed by the gambling operator, its online net revenue saw a 26% growth in the 17 weeks that ended on October 29th. William Hill also reported a 60% rise in its US division’s net revenue.
According to the company, the stiffer regulation and the FOBT crackdown of the UK Government has affected the company’s retail like-for-like revenue that fell by 16% in the above-mentioned period.
Apart from providing information about its financial performance in the period, William Hill also confirmed its expectations for the full year, saying that in August 2020 it expects a full-year adjusted operating profit of between £50 million and £70 million.
This was the first quarter for the company under the lead of its new CEO Ulrik Bengtsson, who has also brought in two new senior executives to help with the expansion of the operator’s digital division.
- Author
Olivia Cole
