04 November 2011
Casino News: William Hill Merger Talks Fall Through
This week, William Hill has said all bets were off, in regards to takeover talks with Gibraltar-based gambling firm Probability. Probability owns the Lady Lucks brand, which has around 1 million bingo, casino and poker customers in the UK,
In recent years, there has been a dramatic increase in online gaming, boosted by heavyweight marketing campaigns, smart phones, and tablet computers.
Currently, the William Hill brand offers bingo, casino and poker, and it's looking to increase its presence. In doing this, it will be able to compete on a more level playing field with rivals such as 888 Holdings and BetFair.
No reason was given for the breakdown of talks, although it is reported that Playtech, which has a 21% share in the online ventures of William Hill, felt that the deal could have hurt financial interests.
As a result of the announcement, shares in William Hill rose slightly. However, shares in Probability declined 16%, losing some of the gains it made since the talks were announced in September.
An analyst at Peel Hunt said “The deal with Probability was interesting but it was never going to be a game changer for William Hill. William Hill already has a good mobile phone offering, particularly on sports betting and its got the resources to drive forward its own mobile presence."
After Partygaming and bwin merged this year, it looks like further takeovers could be possible. Ladbrokes has been in talks with SportingBet and 888, but both sets of negotiations fell through.