Recently, a deal was announced by William Hill that will see it partner up with the US-based operator known as Eldorado Resorts. With this announcement, shares in the UK operator rose by around 5% in early trading yesterday. The partnership will see William Hill further advance its status in the recently liberalised US market, which has seen various operators team up with casinos to be one of the first to offer their games to such.
The unison of William Hill and Eldorado Resorts is for both digital sports betting and casino-based sports betting. To add to this, online gambling will also be available, as William Hill will gain access to the 23 million customers that Eldorado has across the 11 American states that it operates in. Plus, Eldorado is on its way towards completing the purchase and acquisition of another brand known as Tropicana Entertainment. Once done, this will see the number of casinos that Eldorado Resorts owns increase up to 26, while operating in 13 states.
The first move for William Hill is for it to open up five sportsbook operations in five different properties. This, the company said, will take place within a small few weeks, and the locations for them will be in West Virginia, Mississippi and New Jersey.
The good news doesn’t end there though, because as states continue on with legalising sports betting, the FTSE 250 will also be able to expand its US customer base. After the landmark ruling by the US Supreme Court that overturned the PASPA law, the FTSE 250 said it expects that sports betting will be operating within several additional casinos in the near future.
A Turnaround for William Hill
It stands as a huge boost for William Hill, as the company’s shares fell to a five-year low in August this year. The reason? The heavy clampdown from the United Kingdom Gambling Commission on betting terminals and their maximum stake levels. Because of this movement – which hasn’t actually come into effect yet – William Hill saw itself being pushed into a pre-tax loss for the first half of 2018.
In order to combat the effects of this, the company said that it intends to remodel its UK-based business, whilst continuing with its expansion into the US market. In doing so, the CEO Philip Bowcock said that he expects William Hill to break even by the end of the year.
It was only slightly earlier on in 2018 that other bookmakers GVC and Paddy Power worked out similar deals with casino operators within the United States. The race to become a large entity within the market has seen operators scrambling to attach themselves to casinos in the country.
Speaking of the increase in William Hill’s share price, an analyst for Peel Hunt Ivor Jones said that he believes the share price had fallen too far. Yet, he went on, with the announcement of the US deal, it serves as a definite reminder about the option that remains available for the group across the sea.
