Today, the leading British gambling operator William Hill announced that it appointed Roger Devlin at the position of its chairman designate. Mr. Devlin, who is known as a veteran in the betting industry as well as an executive of the Football Association.
Mr. Devlin is to join the UK bookmaker at the beginning of February, and will take over the position from Gareth Davis on April 2nd. He joins the company at a critical time when the local gambling industry is trying to deal with tighter regulatory control imposed by authorities and local gambling operators have been considering possible merger and acquisition deals as ways of consolidation.
For the time being, Roger Devlin is chairman of the betting data company Sports Information Systems, in which William Hill holds a 19.5% stake. Mr. Devlin also has professional experience as a Chair of the private gaming company Gamesys, and was also a board director of Ladbrokes at the time when the gambling operator was part of Hilton Group.
New Chairman to Take Over at Delicate Times
As mentioned above, Mr. Devlin is to join William Hill at a delicate time for the company. Recently, the British gambling operator revealed that it was in the early stages of merger negotiations with its Australian rival CrownBet. The company has also been trying to deal with the possible negative consequences from the stricter measures imposed by the local gambling regulatory authorities.
William Hill Dealing with Possible FOBTs Clampdown
Back in November, it became clear that the British bookmaker is to be put under pressure to reveal the possible financial consequences which the pending fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) crackdown will have on its operations.
The UK Government finally published the results of its review of the industry, and more specifically on the controversial fixed-odds betting machines. As a result Government’s officials confirmed that a reduction of the maximum stake allowed at the machines is expected, but no final decision was made on the reduction.
Recently, the fixed-odds betting machines have been widely criticised due to their addictive character, high-speed gameplay and large maximum stakes. Currently, players are given the chance to bet a maximum stake of £100 every 20 seconds. Considering the fact that the Government has recommended that the stakes need to be cut, the gambling operators is to be seriously hit by the reduction. For the time being, William Hill runs approximately 2,400 betting shops offering fixed-odds betting terminals across the UK.
William Hill in Merger Negotiations with CrownBet
In November, the gambling operator also confirmed that it has entered preliminary talks for a possible deal with its Australian rival operator CrownBet. The British operator further explained that a deal is still not certain, as it was yet to be seen whether or not the two companies were to reach an agreement. The announced preliminary negotiations with the Australian gambling operator came only several days after William Hill revealed its trading update, explaining that its revenues generated by its digital operations increased.
According to a person familiar with the situation, a merger between the Australian business of William Hill and CrownBet may not be greenlighted soon as the talks were still at an early stage.
