The gambling industry is enormous and ever-evolving. With easy access to the internet and online gambling and betting in full swing, especially after the COVID pandemic, the world is a breeding place for smaller bookmakers and online casinos.
Before the logistics and finance needed to open and run a betting or gambling shop were huge, and much more complicated. With the rise of internet betting and gambling, it's much easier to open a shop and drive promotions to attract new customers into the growing market.
This is great for new bookmakers wanting to enter the gambling market, however, not so good for old-time veterans like William Hill. This article aims to see whether William Hill's position in the UK market is threatened by new, smaller bookmakers entering the field.
William Hill In 2022
In 2022, William Hill is still one of the best bookmakers in the UK, and even worldwide. They are a high-end bookmaker with a lot of experience in the field, offering great promotions for both old and new players, such as this bonus from William Hill. It's worth checking out if you want to get a jumpstart on your bets.
Apart from the great bonuses, there are many more reasons to join, and like William Hill. A great plethora of free racing coverage as well as daily customer specials. Great customer support, and a very reliable bookmaker overall that has been on the market for decades, should be reasons alone to give William Hill a try if you haven't already done so.
How Does The Gambling And Betting Market Look Like In The UK?
The UK loves sports, and it's no wonder to learn that many of the people who live there like to bet on a regular occasion. In 2021, the UK had a total gross gambling yield of 5.89 billion GBP. This is a huge number, indicating that the UK market is large enough for many big, and small players to take a share and still be left with huge profits.
Now let's take a look at the number, or rather, percentage of people who gamble regularly in the UK. A total of 26.9% of people living in the UK gamble at least once a week. Compared to other countries, especially developed ones this is a huge percentage, indicating a habit of gambling among the people of Great Britain.
And now, the average amount of gaming machines are counted at 168,270. If we take a look at all three data sets, we can see a connection there which leads us to the conclusion that bookmakers can thrive and grow on UK soil.
That's why British gambling and betting companies have enormous profits and continue to grow year after year. But with new players entering the market all the time, how do older companies fare when compared to the relatively new and inexperienced bookmakers and gambling houses?
How Is William Hill Doing?
If we take at the last William Hill report from 2020, we can see that the COVID pandemic wasn't exactly easy on the UK betting giant. Even though numerically, the betting giant market had a net revenue of $1.84 billion, which amounted to a drop of 16% compared to its performance in 2019.
However, most of this loss can be attributed to the restriction of live sporting events, which made all bookmakers take a hit on their revenue. One of the smartest moves was William Hill's integration of Mr Green which served to bolster the company's online reach in Europe. This softened the blow to the revenue and keep William Hill very competitive.
However, we can see that William Hill's rivals managed to keep their profits and revenue up, while William Hill's profit dropped to a staggering 57 million GBP, which amounts to a total of 61% decrease in profits. It seems that the 2.9 billion GBP takeover by the Las Vegas Company Caesars Entertainment didn't give the expected results.
It does remain to be seen what the new 888 and William Hill merge might bring to the table. Even though 888's Q1 profits dropped before the acquisition the future may be brighter than it currently looks.
It seems not only has William Hill lost ground to smaller bookmakers, but it has also taken a hit by its more direct competitors such as Paddy Power. Even though there isn't directly available data to suggest exactly which of the smaller bookmakers are causing William Hill's profits to drop, the correlation is visible when we take a good look at the overall picture.
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