Punters making Olympic sprint


Bookmaker Spreadex has reported a surge in betting numbers for the 2012 Games. Spokesman Andy MacKenzie explained: “The Olympics is not usually associated with high levels of betting interest but in the week leading up to the


London Games we had already taken more bets than the previous Beijing, Greece and Sydney Olympics combined. That interest has continued throughout the first week with bets flooding in on even the lesser known sports such as


handball or water polo and hitting a peak for the men’s 100m final.” However, MacKenzie added that the general air of optimism in the country only goes so far: most of the firm’s customers were actually betting against Team GB.


Stanleybet taking Italy to court over new tenders


ITALY S


tanleybet is once again planning to take the Italian authorities to the European Courts over the tender of a further 2,000 betting shop licences. The company argues that the rules behind the tender are based on previous tenders in 1999 (CONI) and 2006 (Bersani) which the CJEU has ruled against three times now. The European court found that the previous tenders discriminated against Stanleybet and has told the Italian authorities to remedy the situation, to no avail.


David Purvis, CEO of


WILLIAM HILL MADE £10.2M ON EURO 2012


Stanleybet, declared: “Our business model has been repeatedly upheld by the CJEU jurisprudence and therefore we have a legitimate right to operate in Italy. However, the Italian authorities carry on those violations by continuing to apply discriminatory rules. We have asked the Italian government to end those discriminations by revoking the unlawful licences and by withdrawing this new tender. If this should not happen, key provisions of the Treaty of EU will be once again violated, this time on purpose, as the CJEU has repeatedly warned about these


breaches. “We hope that the Italian authorities will listen to us and will withdraw the tender, otherwise we are fully confident that the European Commission will take all the appropriate measures of enforcement against Italy.”


Meanwhile, a KMPG


study commissioned by The Remote Gambling Association (RGA) has concluded that a taxation regime for sports betting based on a Gross Profits Tax (GPT) will result in more income for the Italian government and better social protection measures for Italian consumers. The report found that


the current turnover tax led to substantially worse value for consumers and that this largely explained why an increasing number of Italian sports bettors were choosing to gamble with operators who are based in jurisdictions outside of Italy. The report notes that “a move towards a gross profit tax for Italian sports betting would also accord with the current trend around Europe with what Italy levies on other gambling products”. RGA CEO Clive


Hawkswood said: “The RGA believes that a


stment from William Hill


having Sally Gunnell looking down from the walls and a very young Alan Shearer staring out at the public for the last 45 years, their pictures will have gone by the end of year. So it’s bye-bye, Sally, and bye- bye, Alan, with all your hair now that you’re challenged hirsute-wise.” The bookmaker already has video walls


installed in 35 shops, but Topping said that he wants to hit three figures this time next year. He also wants more shops to carry SSBTs: “We have to make these pay and we have to make sure we’re not can- nibalising OTC and giving away margin so we’re running tests in 287 shops. We’re going to make more available in a lot more shops, if we can find the right solution. “How are they being used? Well, 90 per cent of betting is on football, followed by tennis, basketball and ice hockey. The interesting thing is 76 per cent of bets relate to leagues outside the high profile football countries of England, Italy, Spain


and Scotland. Popular leagues are


Turkish, Greek, Polish and Romanian. And interestingly enough, 85 per cent of bets are accumulators. So we believe there’s a good amount of incremental spend.” Retail saw OTC gross win margin


towards the top of the expected range at 17.8 per cent compared with 16.8 per cent for H1 2011; the stronger margin per- formance seeing OTC net revenue 5 per cent higher. Gaming machine net revenue was also up 5 per cent in the period, with gross win per machine per week of £924. William Hill Online continued to grow, with operating profit up 23 per cent to £68.9m. Within this sportsbook amounts wagered increased 33 per cent and have now grown by 220 per cent in the last three years. Staking levels in sportsbook are the equivalent of 83 per cent of the OTC stakes seen in Retail. Looking ahead, Topping revealed he is


really excited about his firm’s move into the US after the purchase of the three American bookmakers: “It’s good to see the William Hill brand up there in the States, isn’t it? It’s fantastic. It’s a source of great pride to the management team. But we need to join the business up, and we need to reshape the teams. There’s a lot of potential. We shall start by bringing enhanced in-play out during the NFL season. But it’s not all one way. There’s an opportunity to take some of the US product and bring it into the UK.” Topping added that synergies will come


from merging the three bookmakers together but underlined that the company was positioning for expansion and invest- ment. “We haven’t bought these busi- nesses to sit with our legs crossed by the poolside. We aim to develop the business and to grow and grow. We’re going to improve what’s available to existing cus- tomers and existing locations.”


ANALYSIS


William Hill also reported what seemed to be a subdued Euro 2012 performance. Good staking volumes, up 61 per cent against Euro 2008, were undermined by customer friendly results. At least until the last two rounds which will be counted in H2. Excluding the semi-finals and final, the tournament yielded in total £3.6m gross win at a combined margin of 5.1 per cent. However, the Group’s gross win overall on Euro 2012, including the final and semis, was £10.2m, incorporating £5.6m in Retail and £4.5m in Online, at a combined gross win margin of 11.3 per cent.


BettingBusinessInteractive • AUGUST 2012 3


DAVID PURVIS: ‘WE HAVE A LEGITIMATE RIGHT TO OPERATE IN ITALY’


turnover tax for online sports betting creates a huge and uncompetitive financial burden for consumers and licensees. In contrast, an affordable rate of GPT will see more Italians bet with operators who are licensed in Italy. As the KPMG report clearly demonstrates, this is achievable in a way that will safeguard existing tax revenues and enable Italy to benefit from the future growth in the market. Against that background we will be asking the Italian government to change its current tax basis for sports betting from turnover to gross profits.”


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