William Hill recently released half-year results, indicating a 10 percent increase in online business revenue. Online net revenues increased 5 percent to 6 million (£290m) due to a 10 percent rise in gaming revenues. Chief Executive Philip Bowcock said the company was awaiting the government’s triennial review and recommendations for staking levels on FOBTs. He said William Hill’s retail profit would suffer if the review recommends a .60 (£2) stake limit for B3 machines in betting shops, since retail represents 82 percent of total group profit.
Sportsbook dropped 1 percent primarily due to a four basis points fall in gross margin to 6.9 percent. Sportsbook amounts wagered increased 15 percent and active players rose 7 percent.
In retail, net revenue declined 2 percent with OTC revenue down 7 percent and gaming up 3 percent. Bowcock said the results of the new self-service betting terminals were slightly off, but William Hill’s proprietary SSBT terminals were better than the competition’s.
William Hill also will introduce a new Plus loyalty card for SSBT customers. Bowcock said 80,000 customers have signed up but noted the company “didn’t have an awful lot of omni-channel customers.”
Regarding international operations, Bowcock said the Australian business was focused on improving the product ahead of potential regulatory changes, including a ban on credit betting and possibly introducing a point-of-consumption tax similar to South Australia. In the U.S., Bowcock said the market will open up if the Supreme Court allows sports betting in New Jersey.
Bowcock also stated the gambling industry advertises too much on TV. He said the London-based bookmaker would benefit from fewer ads because of its strong brand recognition. “My personal view is that there is too much gambling advertising on TV but from a business perspective, we think we already have the brand recognition. It is an additional barrier to entry,” Bowcock said.
Bowcock was responding to the Times newspaper’s most recent attack on fixed odds betting terminals and what it considers failures by the government regarding online gambling and gambling advertising on TV.
