There is an almost $4 billion acquisition in the works between British based bookmaker William Hill and Caesars Entertainment. Representatives from Caesars Entertainment are currently in London finalizing the deal in person. The potential partnership came to light last week, and representatives from both companies confirmed that negotiations are currently taking place.
William Hill is the oldest gaming company in the world. They were founded by English businessman William Hill in 1934 when gambling in England was still illegal. A joint statement on the negotiations was released today, it revealed that the deal would give Caesars complete control of their US portfolio.
A rep for William Hill said that they have a 32% share of the Nevada sports betting market. The spokesperson also said the company is gaining sports betting markets around the country. The CEO of Caesars, Tom Reeg, weighed in on the purchasing deal. Reeg said, “The opportunity to combine our land based casinos, sports betting, and online gaming in the U.S. is truly an exciting prospect.”
Sportsbooks Looked for Ways to Survive
Caesars CEO Reeg added, “William Hill’s sports betting expertise will complement Caesars’ current offering, enabling the combined group to better serve our customers in the fast growing US sport betting and online market.”
After the historic 2018 Supreme Court decision that overturned a national ban on sports betting, the industry took off, exploding into a multi-billion dollar industry in record time. The sports betting landscape changed greatly during COVID-19, but has made record-breaking resurgences in the last two months.
While casinos in Las Vegas and the entire country are slowly returning to normalcy, sportsbooks have survived with a little creativity. Korean Baseball, eSports, and NASCAR, helped sportsbooks provide legitimate betting options while North American sports were shut down. Now that the NHL and NBA are putting bows on their ‘bubble’ seasons, the MLB enters the postseason, and college and pro football are in full swing, wagering revenue is at an all-time high.
Mobile betting has been one of the biggest reasons that sports betting has posted record numbers in August and through September. Many patrons are still leery about physically entering a sportsbook and some sites are limiting their ability to do so with capacity restrictions. States providing the ability to register for a betting account online instead of in-person has led to an unprecedented boom in mobile wagering.
NFL Expected to Increase Betting Numbers
The American Gaming Association said this week that they predict more than 12% of American adults will place bets on NFL games this season, a number that equates to 35 million people. Charles Willtord, a sports betting analyst with Caesars Entertainment, is charged with dictating all things related to the industry. Willford said, ‘after carefully monitoring the sports betting industry since the barriers were released in 2018, it’s an amazing amount of growth in such a short period of time.’
Caesars Entertainment was previously known as Harrah’s Entertainment. It was renamed Caesars in 2010 and is the fourth largest gaming and resort industry in the world. Willford said, ‘Caesars looks at data before doing any type of acquisitions, it’s a very measured process. Willford said the ‘sports betting industry is the largest boost to the American gaming economy worth more than $35 billion in less than two years, with a worldwide pandemic wedged in between that.’
