UK gambling giant William Hill has revealed a decision to merge its domestic retail and online units, which the Managing Director of its retail division, Nicola Frampton, set to depart the company at a time the latter is preparing for some changes that would hopefully make it fitter for the gambling sector in 2021.
As it was revealed, William Hill is set to merge its retail and online divisions in the UK, with the move scheduled to take effect in September 2020. The British bookmaker also shared that some job losses are expected to result from the restructuring process in the company. Phil Walker, who is the Managing Director of the UK online division of William Hill, will head the combined department after the merger takes place in September. He and Ms Frampton, however, will have to work together over a six-month transition period.
The plans for the UK retail and online division merger have come as part of the changes that William Hill’s Chief Executive Officer Ulrik Bengtsson has been lately making in the company.
As mentioned above, the company has revealed that the decision to combine the two units in one had been made in order for the bookmaker to become more focused on its recovery in the upcoming year, especially considering the fact 2021 could offer an intense sporting programme, including the UEFA European Championship that was rescheduled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
William Hill Is Experiencing Major Reorganisation to Become More Competitive
The latest major reorganisation at the company happened in the autumn of 2019 when William Hill shut a total of 713 betting outlets across its domestic market following the UK Government’s decision to impose stricter regulation and lower maximum stakes on controversial fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs).
Furthermore, a number of senior executives have parted ways with the gambling company, with Ms Frampton set to be the latest to leave William Hill after spending ten years in the company and taking the lead of its UK retail division in 2014.
Phil Walker, who is to take over the combined UK online and retail units after their merger takes place, has been on top of the bookmaker’s online business in the UK for the last eighteen months. Previously, he has spent almost 8 years with some of the gambling company’s major competitors in the sector – Ladbrokes Coral and Gala Coral.
William Hill is preparing for other changes, as well. The gambling company is set to close its office in Sweden as part of the Mr Green brand integration after it acquired the Scandinavian online gambling firm in 2018. The Stockholm office is set to be shut by the end of the year, said William Hill, with the work set to be potentially migrated to offices in Leeds or Krakow. As explained by the gambling giant, a team-based approach to product development is being adopted to make sure its teams are aligned to the business area they support. This new approach, however, means that William Hill would have to make some difficult decisions regarding its locations.
- Author
Olivia Cole
