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William Hill Signs Ground Breaking Sponsorship Deal With The FA

The UK and Europe's leading gaming and sports betting business, William Hill, has agreed a two and a half year deal with The Football Association to become an ‘Official Supporter' of the England football team, and ‘Official Supporter' and ‘Official Betting Partner' of The FA Cup.

The deal with the FA, the first of its type for the betting industry, comes into effect on January 7, 2012* and continues through to the end of The FA and FIFA World Cups in 2014. The agreement features a wide and unique range of image rights, advertising and promotional opportunities.

Ralph Topping, Chief Executive of William Hill said "We have been looking for sponsorship opportunities from which we can reward and engage with our customers for the events they most enjoy. This deal with The FA will help us to achieve our objectives of developing the prominence of our brand and increasing market share in all our business channels.

"Our ‘Official Betting Partner' status of The FA Cup complements our existing partnership with the Scottish Football Association and our sponsorship of the Scottish Cup with which we are already extremely delighted and it becomes a welcome addition to our quality range of sponsorships within **darts, snooker and racing.

"The next two and a half years are an exciting time for UK football and we're delighted to now be part of all of those events." Kristof Fahy, Chief Marketing Officer for William Hill said "This is an excellent deal for both parties and it gives us some very good opportunities to develop our brand across a wide variety of channels. The England and FA Cup branding and imagery will enable William Hill (including via williamhill.com) to promote its services and products that we can offer to our Casino, Games, Sportsbook, Bingo and Poker customers.

"Henry Birch Chief Executive Officer of williamhill.com said "The deal with The FA is an excellent one for williamhill.com as it provides us with a strong platform for our brands and products both in the UK and internationally.

"Peter Daire, The FA's Head of Sponsorship said "We are delighted to have William Hill on board. They have a strong track record in sports sponsorship and a considerable online and high street presence that will enable us to strengthen our communication platforms for England and The FA Cup. In return, William Hill will benefit from an association with two of the highest-profile football sponsorship properties in the world."

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William Hill Online scoops eGR operator of the year prize

William Hill Online has been crowned operator of the year at the 2011 eGaming Review operator awards–  beating shortlisted nominees including Bet 365, Betfair and 888 to win the coveted trophy.
 
Held at the Honourable Artillery Club (HAC) in London, the annual egaming operator awards was bigger than ever this year with more than 700 online gaming professionals joining host and comedian Rufus Hound to celebrate the industry’s achievements in last 12 months.
 
According to eGR's independent panel of judges, William Hill Online deservedly took home the most prestigious award of the evening, with the panel describing the operator as “the turnaround story of 2011”.
 
“William Hill Online has transformed its brand into a dynamic fresh faced online gaming brand and their momentum shows no sign of slowing down,” they said.
 
Henry Birch, CEO of William Hill Online said “The eGR award for operator of the year recognises the huge strides we’ve made over the last 12 months. I want to thank everyone at William Hill Online for all their hard work over the year - it has been fantastic!”
 
 
William Hill Online 2011
 
Following an outstanding performance in 2010, William Hill Online has continued to deliver excellent results this year. 
 
In 2011, William Hill added Italian, Irish and Canadian sites to their international portfolio. The new additions now mean Hills offer 26 different language/territory sites which are available to over 175 different countries across the globe. 
 
Another new site which William Hill added to its product range is their new financial betting site Day Trader. 
 
The Mobile betting division benefitted from a series of innovations, including an exclusive relationship as the betting partner for the Racing Post app (William Hill took its millionth bet on the App in June), Shake-A-Bet, Mobile Casino and their new mobile sports betting site. 
 
In-play amounts staked grew 95% year-on-year fuelled by continuous product expansion. Recent examples include being the only bookmaker to offer point-by-point betting on every Wimbledon match and the launch of an expanded in-play basketball products.
 
William Hill Online‘s extensive pre-match and in-play football offering means the bookie offer around 500,000 betting opportunities every week on the widest variety of markets in the industry.
 
To support their online products – William Hill signed exclusive betting arrangements with ESPN, SPL, Scottish Football, the Sun’s Dream Team, the Investec Derby, and Super League Rugby.
 
Gaming net revenue grew 15% in the first half of 2011 period including Casino net revenue grew 14%, benefitting from further enhancements in the flash-based product range. Underlying gaming net revenue grew 29%. Bingo and Poker also grew, up 25% and 11%, respectively.
 
Their new revamped Bingo site embarked on a massive promotional campaign in October when they gave away 31 cars in 31 days to prize draw winners.
 
Poker is continuing to run some of the best promotions on the poker planet, while William Hill Vegas, Skills and Live Casino have also enjoyed a strong 2011. Vegas was spurred on by new games including exclusive marvel comic games and the Madness (music band) games.
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williamhill.com become title sponsor of snooker’s UK Championship

World Snooker is delighted to announce that williamhill.com has signed a deal to become the title sponsor of snooker’s UK Championship.
Europe’s leading online betting firm, who offer the widest range of sports betting and gaming products in the market, will support the BBC-televised nine-day snooker extravaganza.
Snooker’s second biggest ranking event and a firm fixture on the sporting calendar since 1977, the williamhill.com UK Championship starts this Saturday at the Barbican in York and runs until the following Sunday, 11th of December.
This year’s williamhill.com UK Championship will feature 32 of the best players in the World – including the reigning world champion and defending UK champion John Higgins. the current world number one Mark Selby, and the recent Premier League winner Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Other former world champions who’ll be playing in York include Stephen Hendry, Steve Davis, Neil Robertson,
Mark Williams, Graeme Dott, and Shaun Murphy Kristof Fahy, Chief Marketing Officer at William Hill said “The UK Championship is one of the crown jewels in the world of snooker and we’re delighted to put our name to such a prestigious event.”
“William Hill is a worldwide brand and our sponsorship of the UK Championship gives us the opportunity to promote our online and mobile betting products to a global audience.”
World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn said "We're delighted to welcome William Hill as the new title sponsor of the UK Championship. Having worked with their team at the Grand Slam of Darts I know they are a fantastic company, so it's fitting that they're sponsoring one of snooker's biggest tournaments.
"The UK Championship is one of the highlights of the snooker calendar and receives outstanding exposure through coverage on BBC and across the world, providing exceptional brand exposure for the sponsor to hundreds of millions of fans globally.”
"It promises to be a superb tournament with 32 of the best players in the world gunning for the title."
**Coverage of the williamhill.com UK Championship on BBC starts at 1pm this Saturday, 3rd December. Tickets for the event are on sale now - for details call 0844 854 2757 or visit www.worldsnooker.com/tickets

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Continuation of key first half trends in Q3 leaves William Hill on track for full-year expectations

William Hill PLC (LSE: WMH) (William Hill or the Group) announces its Interim Management Statement for the 13 weeks ended 27 September 2011 (the period or Q3). All comparisons are with the equivalent 13-week period in 2010 (Q3 2010).

The key financial highlights of the period were as follows: Group net revenue grew by 2% and was up 5% in the year to date; Retail net revenue decreased by 3% and was flat in the year to date; Online net revenue grew by 28% and was 25% up in the year to date; and Group Operating profit(1) was 22% lower in the period, 3% lower in the year to date.

Ralph Topping, Chief Executive, commented:

"We have delivered a solid performance in Q3, in spite of a highly competitive market place and a tough consumer environment. We continue to invest in product, pricing and innovation, bringing customers the best high street and online betting and gaming experience.

Pleasingly, Online net revenue growth accelerated in the quarter, as did underlying amounts staked over-the-counter in Retail, and our long-term track record of growth in machines continued in Q3. Internationally, the initial performance of William Hill Online's new Italian casino website is beating expectations having taken around 8-9% market share and we are the most successful of the non-domestic new entrants.

The Q3 margin is broadly in line with our long-term average for this quarter but is below the unusually high margin seen in Q3 2010, driven up by football results. Accordingly, Group profits are lower year-on-year, primarily as a result of this and the planned significant increase in Online investment.

With our leading brand, strong technology, differentiated products and understanding of our consumer, we have a unique opportunity right now to invest to take market share. In the UK, we will be trialling second-generation Storm gaming machines, new self-service betting terminals and high-definition video walls in the shops before the end of the year. Across Europe, we are now investing in a highly focused way in key territories such as Italy and Spain for the long-term benefit of the business."

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