William Hill Reports Mixed Q4 EMEA
William Hill's total group net revenue for the year decreased by 16 per cent to £1,324m, citing Covid-19's impact on live sport, national and regional lockdowns
Caesars’ expects approvals for the acquisition of William Hill to be obtained from the relevant US gaming authorities early in the second quarter of 2021
UK SPORTS BETTING
Holland - Certus Netherlands launched Certus Technologies and Gaming Support have joined forces to create new gaming company, Certus Netherlands BV. Lucien van Linden, CEO of Gaming Support and Jean-Louis Fiorucci, CEO of Certus Technologies (pictured) have established the company, fusing together the casino system expertise of Certus with the practical casino knowledge of Gaming Support, to create an innovative and user-friendly solution.
Belarus - CT Gaming Int. launches in Belarus CT Gaming Interactive has launched a selection of its games in Belarus. After receiving certification by the Belorussian regulator, the provider’s slot games are now live with
grandcasino.by. The slots include 20 Star Party, 40 Treasures, Banana Party, Duck Of Luck and Lucky Clover.
Davtian Rafael, Chief Marketing Officer at
grandcasino.by said: “Our team is thrilled to be the platform where online casino customers can experience the amazing range of CT GAMING games. We aim to provide our customers with the most relevant and high quality content and CT Gaming products meet these high demands.”
Greece - OPAP confirms CEO OPAP has appointed former Chief Commercial Officer, Jan Karas, as full-time CEO. Mr. Karas assumed the role on January 1, 2021 having been the company’s acting interim
CEO since June 2020. Mr. Karas has also be promoted to Executive Member of OPAP’s Board of Directors. In November, OPAP released its Q3 financial results. Overall, the operator managed to remain financially stable despite the stress and insecurity generated by the pandemic. OPAP reported a 0.7 per cent revenue drop year-on-year.
Holland - Holland Casino agrees union deal Holland Casino has reached a negotiation agreement with the trade unions FNV and De Unie for a new collective labour agreement. An important part of the new collective labour agreement, which runs from January 1, 2021 to May 31, 2022, is a structural wage increase of 1.5 per cent from October 1, 2021 and a one-off payment of 0.75 per cent in March 2022.
Italy - Novomatic Italy appoints new CEO Markus Buechele has become the new CEO of NOVOMATIC Italia. The Chairman Franco Sergio Rota and COO Karl Plank confirmed in the Board of Directors
After three years Olga Rodrigo says goodbye to the country and returns to exclusively cover the role of CFO in NOVOMATIC Spain.
P10 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
William Hill's total group net revenue for the year decreased by 16 per cent to £1,324m, citing Covid-19's impact on live sport, national and regional lockdowns in the group's retail business and the effect of trading a smaller retail estate.
Te operator's latest trading statement showed net revenue for the fourth quarter grew nine per cent year-on-year. Sportsbook staking increased 16 per cent, driven by enhanced products and geographical expansion, whilst gross win margins benefitted from favourable sporting results, driving group sportsbook net revenue up 20 per cent year-on-year.
Online international net revenue increased 12 per cent on a pro-forma basis in 2020, benefitting from the successful integration of Mr Green, which launched in two new regions. William Hill attributed the 'delivery of product improvements and effective implementation of a multi-brand strategy' as offsetting the regulatory headwinds and the absence of live sport during part of the year, with gaming growing 18 per cent pro-forma.
Online UK net revenue grew five per cent in 2020. Te steady stream of platform and product upgrades improved the operator's competitive position and the year concluded
Totalizator Sportowy seeks to acquire Casinos Poland
Poland
Totalizator Sportowy, the state- run Polish gambling operator, is making plans to acquiring local operator Casinos Poland. Te lottery provider, which also runs land-based slots halls and online casino operations, is bidding to acquire a majority stake in Casinos Poland, which operates eight land-based gaming venues in the country.
US-based Century Casinos currently holds a two-thirds stake in Casinos Poland, with Totalizator Sportowy looking to acquire these shares from Century. Te process is currently at the stage of due diligence and work on transaction documentation,
strongly, driven by a full calendar of live sport in the last quarter and with gaming net revenue growing 20 per cent in that quarter.
US full year net revenue increased 32 per cent, driven by strong growth online. Casinos remained closed or operated with restricted access for long periods and the major US sports leagues rescheduled their seasons in response to the pandemic. As part of the company's existing joint venture agreement, William Hill absorbed the Caesars In-Person sportsbooks onto its platform.
William Hill US went live in five new states and launched mobile in five states, leading to 121 per cent net revenue growth in the fourth quarter. William Hill’s sports betting apps and sports book odds are now featured on both ESPN and CBS Sports, two of America’s leading sports media brands, as a result of agreements entered into during the year.
In September, the boards of William Hill and Caesars announced that they had reached agreement on the terms of a recommended cash acquisition pursuant to which Caesars UK Bidco shall acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of William Hill not already owned by or on behalf of the Caesars Group for a cash price of 272p per share.
including a sales contract.
TS has submitted an application to Poland’s Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) to ensure the state voices no objections to TS expanding into the land- based casino market. Te company already operates a slots hall monopoly with hundreds of venues across Poland.
Tis is the second time that TS has attempted to acquire control of Casinos Poland, having secured UOKiK’s permission in 2011 to buy two- thirds of the casino operator. But that deal was scuppered by Century, which at the time held the one-third share in Casinos Poland and exercised its veto over the sale. Century acquired its additional one-third in Casinos Poland just two years later.
Spain
City Councillors in Castilblanco, a municipality located in the province of Badajoz, have classified the planned casino resort of Elysium City as a “Great Leisure Facility.” Te resort, which will be based on Greek mythology will be ‘a themed leisure park for families, which includes the construction of a Casino Hotel, five, four and three star hotels, shops, a golf course, three marinas, residences, a heliport, as well as a data center, since everything will be based around 5G technology.’ Cora Alpha the US company backing the casino resort being planned for Extremadura must present its final plans in the next six months for the Junta de Extremadura to give it its final approval. Te municipal authorities believe the project will ‘initiate a process of radical change in the demographic trend.’
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