William Hill Reveals Increase in Their Online and Mobile Betting Business in 2013

William Hill reveals great results for 2013 with especial emphasis on online and mobile betting business growth.

Mobile and online sportsbooks in the United Kingdom are on the rise. Another confirmation has been received from renowned betting operator William Hill. The bookmaker has praised the outstanding performance of its online betting business, saying punters are increasingly choosing to wager on smartphones and tablet devices.

The actual figures

William Hill reports increase in online and mobile betting

• 2013 was particularly good for their online sportsbooks in the United Kingdom

• Mobile betting services have also enjoyed a huge spike in usage

• Land-based business managed to grow as well

William Hill is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year and is currently enjoys the leading position on British sports betting market. According to the data published by the operator their mobile betting net revenue has increased a whopping 175 percent year-on-year.

This helped overall online betting sales to rise by 12 percent to GBP 446 million. In the meantime the share of mobile gambling has made up 39 percent of all wagering at William Hill in 2013.

Chief Executive Officer at William Hill, Ralph Topping, had the following comments for British gambling news: "Online's sportsbook performance continues to be sparkling, with staking levels up around 400 per cent over the five years since the start of 2009."

Land-based performance

Naturally, William Hill is not all about online and mobile betting business. The 80 years of history has allowed the bookmaker to grow its betting shops network into a considerable force. Currently, there are over 2,400 land-based establishments under their brand in the United Kingdom.

The brick-and-mortar operations of William Hill has also enjoyed a great year in 2013. Reports reveal that revenues have increased over 10 percent. However, around one fifth of that increase can be attributed to growing popularity of fixed odds betting terminals, controversial gambling machines currently under much scrutiny.

The renowned bookmakers have expanded their FOBTs numbers by around three percent and now offer close to 10,000 machines in full compliance with British gambling laws. Despite the growing revenues from these machines, there have been calls for limiting or banning them from various opponents.

FOBTs and William Hill

Last week the Association of British Bookmakers, where William Hill is a proud member, has announced a brand new code of conduct. The main point of the new code is allowing gamblers to set their own limits on the amount of money and time they spend gaming on the Fixed Odds Betting Terminals.

There will also be compulsory alerts on these machines, notifying players that they have spent GBP 250 in one session or/and have been playing for 30 minutes straight. William Hill has supported the initiative and will be implementing the new code of conduct at its betting shops at a full extent.

Other William Hill performance figures

William Hill have also revealed that their over-the-counter betting has slightly increased – by 2 percent – showing a great deal of resilience especially when mobile and online betting are rising rapidly. The main reasons for increase were great results of football and horseracing activities.

Despite the rise in overall betting, retail earnings fell by seven percent and made up GBP 196.3 million. But that can be attributed to a brand new machine games duty introduced recently.

The overall earnings for William Hill group have jumped three percent to GBP 335 million last year. Even though bottom line profits decreased by six percent to GBP 257 million figure. These can be explained by several acquisitions, the most important being the purchase of rival Sportingbet business in Australia last year.

William Hill executives were especially happy the company has managed to outperform rivals from Ladbrokes. This British betting giant has revealed a whopping 66 percent drop in profits, also reporting that their online business is not doing as predicted.

William Hill was hit hard on football betting back in January, when top Premier League football teams have all recorded victories. However, the trading has already seen much improvement, and the losses have almost been made up.

Last month, William Hill shared the news that they expect GBP 13 million in losses due to the top Premier League teams winning. The dynamic has continued in January, but already in February the betting operator has entered positive territory.

Another interesting thing which can be learned from William Hill report, is the fact that amounts their members bet are actually growing. A four percent rise across all land-based betting shops have been recorded, whereas online betting amounts have grown by a staggering 46 percent.

William Hill

One of the most recognizes names in betting business worldwide, William Hill, is a brand dating back to 1934. The company has taken their betting business online back in 1998, and are still enjoying leading positions in the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions as well.

The betting group is not only limited to the classic sports betting industry. Their companies now include online casinos, bingo rooms, poker sites, and much more. Online betting offerings are widespread and cover virtually every sporting event on the globe.

Thanks to the technological advancements the company has been able to take advantage of mobile betting software and offer this type of wagering services to its members. Mobile betting allows punters to place wagers whenever they want to and wherever they are. All they need is a smartphone or a tablet.

William Hill currently employs around 18,000 in a variety of operational hubs spread around the globe. The biggest ones beside the United Kingdom include Gibraltar, Bulgaria, Israel, Italy, Spain, United States and the Philippines.

According to official data there are now over 2,000,000 active online customers with a William Hill account.