iGaming
William Hill tackles employee walkout
William Hill has found itself having to tackle a staff mutiny after a walkout from its Tel Aviv offices.
WILLIAM HILL ONLINE T
he employee walkout at the Israel office of William Hill Online was not
an industrial dispute, according to William Hill chief executive Ralph Topping. Speaking at the firm’s trading update to ana- lysts, Topping suggested there was more to the mutiny than complaints about the harmonisation of systems across William Hill Online.
He explained: “What happened was one individ- ual, over a period of time, refused us access, despite various ways in which we tried to persuade that indi- vidual to give us access. Our patience ran out, and an ultimatum was given. That individual chose to resign. Two weeks later, a number of people encour- aged the workforce by various means, to leave the business.”
The disruption happened in the middle of last month in William Hill Online’s mar- keting division, when staff walked out of offices in Tel Aviv, Manila and Bulgaria. Normal operations were resumed within a week after discussions led by William Hill Group and William Hill Online senior management, together with assistance and input throughout from William Hill’s joint venture partner Playtech.
As part of the discussions, Hills announced that agree- ment was reached with
seven senior William Hill Online managers who have now left the business. It was also revealed that Eyal Sanoff, chief marketing officer of William Hill Online’s marketing team in Tel Aviv, had resigned on 27 September. Topping said that it is keeping an eye on develop- ments surrounding its former employees and con- firmed that it has ‘non- compete clauses at our discretion to exercise through the courts’ should the company wish to do so. Topping told analysts: “One thing I’d point out is these guys were on huge bonuses, earnouts, in this business over the next two years. So there is a potential saving to the business in those, depending, of course, on performance and whether the business hits its quite hard targets. “But as far as the situa- tion goes, and I’m sure there’s going to be some other questions on Israel, there’s a hell of a good atmosphere in the office now is all I will say. And a lot of work to be done, a lot of work to be sorted out, but we have the senior man- agers over there doing that.” While there may be some short-term impacts from the disruption, Topping said that this is in the strategic best interests of this busi- ness in the long run. He added that William Hill Online is addressing the management gaps that have
Another record quarter at 888
FINANCIALS M
arketing expertise has helped online operator 888 achieve its best ever business quarter in terms of rev- enues. Group revenue for the third quarter increased to US$86m, a 42 per cent jump compared to last year and a 10 per cent increase compared to the previous record quarter.
Revenue from 888’s con-
sumer-facing business increased 45 per cent year- on-year to $74m (£46.2m), reflecting strong increases in its poker and casino ver- ticals.
RALPH TOPPING: ‘I'VE NEVER ENCOUNTERED ANYTHING LIKE IT’
ANALYSIS
William Hill bosses have given the impression that the issue has occurred following a stand off with one of its own employees refusing to grant access to certain systems for harmonisation purposes across the company. However, the press coverage suggested it was more about concern over the possible closure of the Tel Aviv offices and the relocation of their function to Gibraltar, something that the company has denied. The flare up has been another bump on the road for the William Hill and Playtech partnership, who earlier this year were head to head in the courts about the latter dealing with competing bookmakers. Away from the politics though, the joint venture between them for William Hill Online has been a resounding success.
been created by promoting some people, recruiting others, and having the online leadership team on the ground over the coming months in Tel Aviv.
“Something we’ve always known is that we’ve got a loyal workforce in Israel, when I think what they were put through over the course of the last couple of weeks.
The full story on that will emerge, over time, but I’ve never encountered anything like it. This was not an indus- trial dispute. This was an ordering of the workforce to leave the building. The workforce came back quickly in big numbers when we contacted them, and are back in even bigger numbers now,” he commented.
Interstate Treaty now bans casino and poker T
GERMANY
he German State Treaty of Gambling has been amended in
reaction to challenges from the European Commission this summer, but it appears that the new draft still may be
incompatible with the EU Treaty.
Online casino and poker games will now be completely banned while the number of licences available for private sports betting operators will be
increased from 7 to 20. The turnover based tax will be reduced from 16.67 per cent to 5 per cent and the authorities will no longer have the powers to make ISPs block access to unlicensed gambling sites. The Remote Gambling Association (RGA) has expressed its ‘deep disappointment’ at the continuing absence of a properly regulated and competitive German gambling market for
4 BettingBusinessInteractive • NOVEMBER 2011
private remote gambling operators and consumers. The RGA said the Interstate Treaty is out of line with the more measured and rational approach taken in other Member States, such as Denmark and Spain, who are soon to introduce systems that regulate nearly all forms of remote gambling and which are based on a much more viable gross profits taxation model.
“There appears to be no connection between the desire to provide German citizens with a regulated market and the actual text of the State Treaty. The Minister Presidents say on one hand that they want to encourage sports betting with regulated German operators, but at the same time deny this to citizens who wish to partake of casino and poker games online,” stated RGA chief
executive Clive Hawkswood.
“It is clear that this will have little effect in reducing the large number of German citizens gambling with operators licensed in other jurisdictions and which offer casino and poker products. Policies to restrict consumers from accessing such sites have consistently been shown to be ineffective. As such, this policy will have
limited practical impact.” In contrast, the German Landa of Schleswig- Holstein passed its own online gambling law earlier this year, which regulates all gambling products on a gross profits basis, following the continuing difficulties with the German states reaching agreement. This law has already been approved by the EU through the normal notification process.
Deputy chairman Brian Mattingley commented: “The continuing focus on our core competencies has led to another excellent quarter, and the highest quarterly revenue ever achieved in 888’s history. Our compelling offering and successful marketing campaigns have helped to build on our outstanding first nine month perform- ance and drive player numbers to record levels. Strength across all of our platforms leaves us well positioned for the future.” The number of active customers at 888’s casino and poker operations was an impressive 167 per cent higher than the same
period the previous year - sitting at 442,000. As at 30 September 2011, 888 had 10.1m casino, poker and sport real money regis- tered customer accounts, representing an increase of 24 per cent since 30 Sep- tember 2010.
Revenue from 888’s casino increased 41 per cent to $37m (£23.1m) and its poker business saw even more impressive growth, jumping 120 per cent to $18m (£11.2m) which the firm said has been driven by the ‘contin- uing success of the Poker 6 platform’.
Quarterly revenue per active casino and poker customer was $126 (£79), a 40 per cent decrease com- pared to Q3 2010. The drop has been attributed to the company’s significant expansion in new cus- tomer recruitment coupled with a significant, but slower, revenue increase. Mattingley added that the future was rosy: “Trading has continued to be strong into the fourth quarter, and as such we expect that clean EBITDA for the financial year ending 31 December 2011 will be significantly ahead of current market expec- tations.”
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