It would not be an exaggeration to say that the gambling sector in the United Kingdom had a pretty eventful year and the implementation of the so called Point of Consumption Tax had a devastating effect on the industry in general.
In order to compensate for the losses, UK gambling providers were supposed to adopt different approaches, enter new markets or move their headquarters outside the UK.
Yesterday morning, it became clear that the discussions between the gaming giants William Hill and 888 Holdings were terminated.
The unsuccessful discussion and the following termination reminded the UK-based retail investors about the potential risks, concerning the minority shareholding issues. If the deal between the two companies had been inked, it would have literary put a new era to the UK gambling industry.
Currently, the remote betting activities are preferred by players since they are more affordable and accessible; people are not as keen on going to the actual betting shops and place their bets as they used to. The newly implemented taxes are making matters even worse.
Despite the terminated discussions with 888 Holdings, William Hill officials did not abandon their plans for making the company the leader on the local market. Currently, William Hill and Ladbrokes are competing against each other for establishing their betting websites and accelerate the process of popularization and expansion through acquisitions that have to take place as soon as possible.
As for the operators that do not manage land-based betting properties, such as bwin.party, Playtech, 888 Holdings, they are also challenged by the fast-changing gambling environment in the UK. The greatest setback they have to deal with is the above mentioned Point of Consumption tax.
In addition, the UK-based bookmakers fell a victim to a severe campaign against the popular fixed- odds gaming terminals. They were condemned as the “crack cocaine” of the gambling sector.
As for 888 Holdings, the company can take pride in being among the fast developing ones. However, it has to deal with tough competition. William Hill, Ladbrokes and Betfair are prospective operators that are also trying to consolidate their positions on the already saturated UK gambling market.
The ventures of Betfair deserve to be paid considerable attention to as well. The online operator reported record revenues for the last year, attributed mainly to the World Cup. Market analysts were unanimous that the business model of Betfair is exceptional but the pre-tax profits for 2015 are expected to undergo a decline due to the Point of Consumption tax.
