Online operations boost William Hill results

The expanded online gambling services offered by UK Internet and land gambling group William Hill plc delivered an impressive rise in revenue of 50 percent, the company revealed this week in releasing its Q1 2009 numbers.
The growth on the Internet side contrasted with telephone betting gross win, which declined by 31 percent due to cancelled race meetings and increased competition.
Company spokesmen said first-quarter trading had been resilient, and that the firm had benefited from favourable horse-racing results in April, which helped offset the impact of race meeting cancellations, down a third due to bad weather. Football betting and gaming machines continued to produce strong performances.
Revenues overall were up by 6.5 percent and retail gross win increased by 2 percent in the 17 weeks to April 28. Over-the-counter gross win fell by 5 percent however, reflecting the cancellations and customer-friendly wager results in March.
Chief executive Ralph Topping said: “Although the economic and competitive environment remains challenging, our results show continuing resilience. Integration of our online business is progressing, with an encouraging increase in the number of customer accounts.”

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