William Hill offshore move confirmed: egaming, fixed odds to Gibraltar
William Hill will relocate its online betting and fixed odds games division to Gibraltar as the bookmaker seeks to benefit from the low tax rates enjoyed by competitors licensed there.
WILLIAM HILL will relocate its online betting and fixed odds games division to Gibraltar as the bookmaker seeks to benefit from the low tax rates enjoyed by competitors licensed there.
The company’s online gaming unit is already based in Gibraltar, and it said the move was part of the ongoing integration of the William Hill Online division created at the end of 2008.
As reported on EGRmagazine.com, the move is likely to see Ladbrokes follow suit as it already has its gaming division based in Gibraltar.
William Hill made the announcement this morning as it announced a 58% rise in net revenues for the six month period to the end of June for its online division to £100m, from £63m during the same period last year.
Online operating profit rose 13% to £31.4m during the period from £27.7.m last year. Telephone betting revenues fell 18% to £18.6m while operating profit dropped 73% to £1.2m during the period.
William Hill added that the below par performance in the first half of the year, a difficult month of July and the uncertain economic environment meant it would not meet retail profits forecast for the year. Revenues for the group’s retail division dropped 1% to £393.2m from £398.2m, pre-tax profts fell to £91.5m from £111m last year and operating profit fell 10% to £111.5m from £123.5m in 2008. Total group revenues rose 5% to £515.5m during the period, compared with £488.8m last year.
Poor horseracing results in March and the cancellation of around one third of UK horseracing fixtures in January and February were compounded by unusually poor football results in May, particularly associated with consistently good performances at the end of the 2008-2009 football season by the big four clubs, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea.
However, a good gross win margin together with a strong performance from machines compensated for a lower level of amounts wagered over-the-counter.
The company added that the William Hill Online (WHO) integration was performing well, with new accounts and unique active accounts up 30% and 29% respectively. Sportsbook revenue was down 1% due to poor results but underlying performance was satisfactory, with amounts wagered and new accounts up 9% and 7% respectively.
Live betting will form a core part the company’s sports offering in 2009-2010 and WHO looks, to build on the 18% quarter on quarter rise in net revenue growth it has recorded this year.
The company said online net gaming revenues rose 88% during the period and it would look to build on this as casino and bingo/skill gaming performed strongly with pro forma net revenue up 21% and 50% respectively.
Poker revenues dropped 15% following the migration of the player base in March but the company said it was confident the higher liquidity on the iPoker network would bear fruit WHO will be adding Sterling- and Euro-based tables to the existing US dollar-denominated ones.
In other company news this week, William Hill is facing a copyright law suit from 32 Red over William Hill’s 32 Vegas online casino brand.