Online casino chain 888 buys William Hill International-What does this mean for the market?
The well-known casino chain 888 Holdings has confirmed that it is buying the assets of William Hill International. 888 buys William Hill from the Caesars Entertainment Company, which itself had only been in possession of the assets for just one year.
This acquisition involves an amount of around 2.61 billion dollars!
William Hill has been around since 1934 and is a famous bookmaker in and outside Great Britain. The company has more than 16,000 employees and more than 2,300 land-based betting offices worldwide.
William Hill, one of the biggest bookmakers in the world
William Hill's assets include more than 1,400 betting shops in dollarpa. These are mainly ‘betting shops', small betting offices in various British cities, where players can bet on sports competitions, horse and dog races, bingo and lotteries.
William Hill's betting offices have suffered a heavy loss in recent years, among other things due to the cessation of sports betting during the corona crisis. But William Hill's assets also include online casinos they just scored better.
And now that most of the sports competitions in the NZ have started again, the company has entered the black numbers again. An interesting time for an acquisition.
What is 888 up to with William Hill?
It is striking that 888 Holdings, one of the oldest online casino chains in the world, is buying up these assets. Does the online company suddenly see a future in running betting offices made of brick and cement? Itai Pazner, CEO of 888, said on 888's website that the chain plans to keep the offices and that no layoffs will follow.
He sees the purchase of the assets as an expansion of 888's range of services, and says that through this purchase, his company is now among the big players in the gambling world. Pazner also refers to the upcoming NZ legislation in the field of online gambling, which is expected to result in strict rules for online casinos.
By owning 'real' betting offices, 888 would be better able to hold its own in the uncertain market, according to Pazner.
Stricter NZ legislation for online casinos
Many New Zealanders like to take a gamble at NZ gambling sites. The casinos of William Hill Unibet , Betfair and PokerStars well-known online casinos from the NZ that welcome New Zealand customers.
The new NZ legislation will include a number of measures that restrict casinos in their space of movement. The NZ lawmakers are considering measures such as tighter limits on players ' bets, maximum heights for jackpots and tournament prizes, a ban on sponsorship deals with sports companies and hefty fines for companies that go wrong.
If the English gambling laws are indeed going to get stricter, then it could be less attractive for New Zealand players to play at British online casinos in the long run. And that could mean that they are moving to the recently Legal New Zealand online casinos.
Does William Hill apply for a New Zealand permit?
Since October 1, 2021, New Zealanders can gamble online with providers licensed by The New Zealand Gambling Authority. William Hill does not (yet) have such a license, and at the end of september, Minister Dekker for Legal Protection announced measures against foreign casinos that still offer services to New Zealand gamblers after October 1, 2021.
Among others, the major gambling sites Mr Green, RedBet and William Hill are now owned by 888 due to the acquisition. At the moment, the first two sites are still accessible to New Zealand players. Since William Hill is one of the largest gambling companies in the world, it seems likely that the company wants to continue serving New Zealand.
As a result of the acquisition by 888 Holdings, this licence application may now end up in an accelerated process. One hurdle along the way is the $300,000 fine William Hill received from our Gaming Authority in 2018 for ‘illegally’ offering gambling games on the New Zealand market.
Other companies such as Unibet will not be able to go online in New Zealand directly from October 2021 due to such a fine – they have been given a time-out by the KSA. So will we soon be able to gamble legally at William Hill's NZ online casinos? Nothing is certain, everything is possible.