{"id":185270,"date":"2021-09-09T03:35:47","date_gmt":"2021-09-09T10:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=185270"},"modified":"2021-09-09T14:32:11","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T21:32:11","slug":"888-announces-2-2b-deal-to-acquire-william-hills-non-us-assets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-announces-2-2b-deal-to-acquire-william-hills-non-us-assets\/","title":{"rendered":"888 Holdings Announces $3B Deal to Acquire William Hill\u2019s Non-US Assets"},"content":{"rendered":"

The worst-kept secret in gaming<\/a>\u00a0is now official. On Thursday morning, 888 Holdings confirmed it has agreed to purchase William Hill\u2019s non-US assets from US casino giant Caesars Entertainment Inc., beating the private equity firm Apollo Global Management to the punch.<\/p>\n

\"William
William Hill is one of the most prominent betting brands in the UK, with 1400 retail outlets. Crystal Ocean races above. (Image: Mark Cranham\/Racing Post)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The price, previously reported<\/a> as \u201cat least\u201d \u00a32 billion, is \u00a32.2 billion ($3 billion). 888 said it expects the transaction to be completed during the first half of next year.<\/p>\n

The deal will allow Caesars to recoup more than two-thirds of the US$3.7 billion it paid for William Hill in April. Caesars said at the time it was only interested in the group\u2019s US assets, as it made a play for the fast-growing US sports betting market.<\/p>\n

Acquisition of Betting Shops<\/strong><\/h2>\n

888 will gain control of William Hill\u2019s branded digital sports betting and gaming operations in the UK and across Europe, including the online casino brand Mr. Green.<\/p>\n

The Gibraltar-based company will also acquire \u2013 at least temporarily \u2013 William Hill\u2019s 1,400-plus land-based betting shops in the UK.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear whether digital-only 888 plans to hang on to the retail outlets, or to offload them to another company with an existing presence in the land-based betting sector. UK bookmaker Betfred is hungry for expansion and has expressed an interest in taking them on.<\/p>\n

Scaling Up<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The UK retail betting sector has become less lucrative in recent years because of diminishing consumer interest in horse racing, the growth of online sports betting, and tighter government controls on products like fixed-odds betting terminals.<\/p>\n

\n

But in a March earnings call, 888 CEO Itai Pazner said the retail business \u201ccould be an interesting asset,\u201d adding there were \u201cbenefits\u201d to owning betting shops. Founded in 1934 as a postal and telephone-based betting service, William Hill opened its first shops in the mid-1960s when they first became legal in the UK.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It was for many years the UK\u2019s leading land-based betting company until it was usurped by the merger of Ladbrokes and Coral, which is now part of the Entain group.<\/p>\n

The deal is still subject to shareholder approval, and it will also need a green light from the UK\u2019s Financial Conduct Authority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The worst-kept secret in gaming\u00a0is now official. On Thursday morning, 888 Holdings confirmed it has agreed to purchase William Hill\u2019s non-US assets from US casino giant Caesars Entertainment Inc., beating the private equity firm Apollo Global Management to the punch. The price, previously reported as \u201cat least\u201d \u00a32 billion, is \u00a32.2 billion ($3 billion). 888 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":185271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,32093],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n888 Announces $2.2B Deal to Acquire William Hill\u2019s Non-US Assets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"888 to buy William Hill non-US assets from Caesars Entertainment for \u00a32.2 Billion, creating greater scale for company in UK and Europe.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-announces-2-2b-deal-to-acquire-william-hills-non-us-assets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"888 Announces $2.2B Deal to Acquire William Hill\u2019s Non-US Assets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"888 to buy William Hill non-US assets from Caesars Entertainment for \u00a32.2 Billion, creating greater scale for company in UK and Europe.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-announces-2-2b-deal-to-acquire-william-hills-non-us-assets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-09T10:35:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-09T21:32:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/will-hill.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-announces-2-2b-deal-to-acquire-william-hills-non-us-assets\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-announces-2-2b-deal-to-acquire-william-hills-non-us-assets\/\",\"name\":\"888 Announces $2.2B Deal to Acquire William Hill\u2019s Non-US Assets\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-announces-2-2b-deal-to-acquire-william-hills-non-us-assets\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-announces-2-2b-deal-to-acquire-william-hills-non-us-assets\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/will-hill.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-09T10:35:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-09T21:32:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"888 to buy William Hill non-US assets from Caesars Entertainment for \u00a32.2 Billion, creating greater scale for company in UK and Europe.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-announces-2-2b-deal-to-acquire-william-hills-non-us-assets\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-announces-2-2b-deal-to-acquire-william-hills-non-us-assets\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-announces-2-2b-deal-to-acquire-william-hills-non-us-assets\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/will-hill.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/will-hill.jpeg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Founded in 1934, William Hill is one of the most prominent betting brands in the UK, with more than 1400 retail outlets across the country. 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