Betting Retail
business showing resilience
Operating profit may have dropped by four per cent, but Ralph Topping seems quite pleased at the retail business in 2011.
TRADING REVIEW W
illiam Hill chief execu- tive Ralph Topping has commended the resilience of the retail betting business in the
economic downturn, commenting that the working man is not letting his traditional bet go lightly. Retail turnover grew overall by 6 per cent in 2011 with OTC and machines showing growth of 3 per cent and 6 per cent respectively. Retail net revenue grew by a single per cent for the year despite a weaker OTC margin, boosted by a 9 per cent growth in machines gross win (£901 per machine per week. The OTC gross win margin at 16.8 per cent was both outside the nor- malised range of 17-18 per cent and below the prior year with football results in the second half of 2011 impacting margin performance. While retail expenses grew by only 2 per cent, operating profit declined by four per cent to around £196m. Topping commented: “This is a very positive performance, partic- ularly in a year without a signifi- cant international football tournament and with a c£9m increase in VAT payments as a result of the rate change. Going into 2011, we were - like many busi- nesses with a strong presence in the UK - predicted to face a chal-
lenging consumer backdrop but our overall performance shows we’ve seen the benefit of being a predominantly low ticket leisure activity. November was certainly a very good month for our football clients betting on small stake, high return multiple bets, which com- prise the largest part of our Retail football business, but football betting in 2011 overall continued to show wagering growth in both Retail and Online.”
On the machine front, William Hill announced that it had signed an exclusive four year deal with Inspired Gaming for the sole supply of gaming machines to its LBO estate. Inspired currently supplies 79 per cent of the gaming machines in William Hill’s 2,370 LBOs through new generation ‘Storm’ cabinets. The bookmaker is currently con- ducting a trial of a three-screen version of the ‘Storm’ cabinet in 100 LBOs, including marketing and rewards functionality. These cabi- nets will be rolled out to the remain- ing 21 per cent of the William Hill estate by the middle of 2012 and discussions are ongoing about future technology innovations. William Hill has retained the flexi- bility of an option to return to a dual-supply model for a portion of its estate should it consider that to
Ease of use
trumps value for customers
STUDY T
WILLIAM HILL HAS SIGNED A DEAL WHICH WILL SEE ITS LBOS BECOME STORM-ONLY
ANALYSIS
Ralph Topping has been keen to underline the industry’s contribution to society and revealed that a bookmaking congregation to the Treasury had made some inroads into getting this point across: “The government is focusing on the employment of 18-24 year olds: 25 per cent of William Hill’s workforce is between 18-24. The government is focusing on women in work: 54 per cent of our workforce are women. There’s a lot of myth goes on in government circles outside the Treasury and in our meeting with the Treasury we were dealing in hard facts and information and I think we got a good reception.”
be in its best interests. Away from retail, the company’s telephone channel actually made a £4m loss in 2011, which it said was impacted by losses to a high-staking client predominantly on football betting. The firm said: “Despite cost savings arising from the move offshore in the early part of 2011, amounts wagered has continued to decline, as have gross win margins. Whilst the Group sees a long-term future for its telephone operation, current and future anticipated levels of performance do not support the asset values held on the balance sheet. Accordingly, the Group expects that it will make a £47m exceptional non-cash write- down of the remaining telephone balance sheet goodwill together with other associated assets linked to this channel.”
Victor Chandler rebrands as BetVictor MARKETING
ictor Chandler, one of the most famous book- makers in the country, has decided to rename his betting operation in the UK to BetVictor. The company said that the decision to change the brand name is to ensure consistency and instant recognition across all international markets. BetVictor is already suc- cessfully running across Europe, and will now be the banner under which the UK operation trades. Victor Chandler main- tains a rich heritage in the UK, from a small family business to one of the strongest independent sports and gaming compa- nies in the world. The
V
BETVICTOR’S AFFILIATE DIVISION WAS WORKING UNDER THE NEW BRAND AT ICE
company said that the uniform brand will leverage all these long-standing qual- ities and values, and ‘the
10 BettingBusinessInteractive • FEBRUARY 2012
pioneering spirit and passion for sport’ that makes Victor Chandler such a trusted and success-
ful business. The new
www.betvic-
tor.comwebsite has been designed to deliver a cleaner and more engaging betting experience for cus- tomers. Ease of navigation and enhanced functional- ity are at the heart of the new creation and these fea- tures will compliment a continuing range of great value betting opportuni- ties across a raft of sport- ing events.
Chairman of BetVictor,
Victor Chandler, said: “As a company we are always innovating and moving forward, as well as extend- ing our brand across new territories. The UK will continue to be the fulcrum
of our international busi- ness and it makes perfect sense that the same brand name is used here as in foreign territories. I per- sonally guarantee that we will continue to provide our superb range of betting opportunities across a comprehensive range of sporting events.”
The bookmaker has experimented with chang- ing its branding before, but the alternative VCBet brand didn’t stick and the more traditional eponymous name returned. It is a similar route taken several years ago when Fred Done rebranded his Done Book- makers business as Betfred with great success.
he failure of online gam- blers to shop around for best price could be costing them over £960m a year, according to research from independent polling company Populus. Although odds comparison sites and ‘best price guarantees’ are increasingly prevalent in the online gambling industry, research shows that UK gamblers are shunning better pricing in favour of websites that are easy to use. 42 per cent of gamblers only ever bet through one account, even if it means that they have to accept worse value - despite there being more than 60 book- makers online.
The Populus survey found that the majority (74 per cent) selected ‘ease of use’ as an important reason why they chose an online opera- tor, ahead of best price - 65 per cent stated value was an important factor. Even those who go out of their way to get best price limit them- selves to an average of four accounts, the survey revealed. The research was com- missioned by Bet Butler, which has been allowing customers to access the prices of all recognised betting operators world- wide through a single account since August last year. The company was launched with the objective of allowing punters to access best price without the need to juggle multiple accounts.
Bet Butler director Nigel Seeley said: “People say there’s more choice than ever but in reality punters don’t get best odds because they don’t have an account with the bookie offering it. Gamblers are currently opting for less hassle over winning substantially more. “Bet Butler’s own figures suggest that people could get on average 12 per cent more winnings by choosing the bookmaker with the best odds every time. With global gross win at nearly £8bn per annum, that means gam- blers are missing out on an additional £960m a year. Thankfully, technology now provides a solution to the problem of juggling multiple accounts to secure best price: this service is ‘any bet, any value, anywhere’.”
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