William Hill announces sportsbook deal with West Virginia casinos
Since the ban on sports betting was overruled in the supreme court in May this year, there have been a few announcements that everyone saw coming. Firstly; GVC (owner of Coral Gala Group) announced a merger with MGM Resorts worth a staggering $200m and now, William Hill (the London-listed operator) has announced it will be delivering sports betting products to West Virginia and Mississippi. There will be more announcements to come, since the outdated 1992 law which banned wagers on sports was scrapped. Although William Hill failed to specify where it exactly they would be operating in the Mountain State at the time of announcement, they did reveal that they have reached an agreement with a casino partner in this region. Not only that, but William Hill is also looking to offering sports betting in a further 14 states. Once the deal was struck, more details surfaced on the deal; William Hill will bring its sports betting risk management services, along with its proprietary software to Waterview Casino (Vicksburg), Hard Rock Casino Hotel & Casino Biloxi, Island View Casino Resort (Gulfport), Treasure Bay Casino (Biloxi), Palace Casino (Biloxi) plus another six casinos which are yet to be revealed.
America looks more promising
In the UK, critics applied pressure on bookies to limit the amount punters could spend on fixed odd betting terminals (FOBM). Critics labelled FOBT machines as the ‘crack cocaine of gambling’ and they were successful in their fight, which saw the amount players could stake per game reduce dramatically from £100 a time, to just £2 a time. UK bookmakers are turning to the US now, after the being scorned at home, but the market is going to be a fierce one, with many companies looking to do business with the US.
The future is bright
William Hill chief executive, Philip Bowcock commented on the announcement; “It has been an excellent start for us since PASPA was overturned. We have built on our existing business in Nevada which is number one and growing and in Delaware where we are risk manager for the entire state. We are now the early market leader in New Jersey where our mobile app will launch within weeks and we expect to be market leader in Mississippi with these eleven casino agreements. The team continue to engage in discussions that cover a further fourteen states and they are doing a tremendous job.”
William Hill US chief executive, Joe Asher also added comments; “We have had a great start in New Jersey and our team is working hard to launch our mobile product there, as well as getting ready to go live in Mississippi, West Virginia and elsewhere, subject to regulatory approval. There is a lot happening and we are very proud of our team.”