Cantor vs. William Hill rivalry grows in Nevada

Brit bookie William Hill’s growing presence in the Nevada market, and its acquisition of Brandywine Bookmaking in 2011 has led to increasingly bitter rivalry from the Cantor Gaming group, which controls much of the sports betting activity in Nevada.

Brandywine was founded five years ago by former Cantor exec Joe Asher, who currently heads Will Hill’s US operations, and this has sparked court actions by Cantor in the past.

Earlier this month Cantor ramped up the rivalry with a fresh court filing in Nevada which claims that William Hill deliberately poached trade secrets and potential clients when it bought Brandywine.

Cantor’s legal team alleges that William Hill “…participated in, and plans to benefit from, Asher’s usurpation of business ideas and opportunities that belong to (Cantor). (Cantor is) informed and believes that the William Hill defendants have acted in concert with Asher and Brandywine for this unlawful objective.”

Cantor has asked for unspecified damages to compensate for the alleged theft of business secrets.

Neither Cantor nor Will Hill will comment further on the issue – perhaps understandable given the legal proceedings.