2021 isn’t the best year for large and small businesses around the world. In fact, it’s one of the worst years in recent history, threatening to bring many companies to a financial collapse. William Hill, another big UK company, is suffering massive financial losses, which forced it to take drastic measures.
The gambling company recently revealed the plans for merging its retail and online business in the United Kingdom. They didn’t provide any reasons for that except for hoping that it will help the company recover from financial losses in the following year.
Ulrik Bengtsson, the CEO of William Hill, says that Nicole Frampton will leave the company six months after this happens. In his words, she’s been a key player in bringing the brand to the high level it now bravely holds. Her place will take Charlotte Emery, a new retail business leader that hopes to fix these issues.
Is 2021 Going to be a Disaster for William Hill?
William Hill, as mentioned, will work by this new program only in the United Kingdom. This means that all retail bookmakers will close down, including the ones in Sweden, Stockholm.
Logically, this will have a huge impact on revenue that the company is going to make in the following months. So far, in 2021, it’s impossible for William Hill to bounce back to the top this year.
Furthermore, the bookmaker had to cancel all of the sports contests worldwide, which is yet another strike to the company. For comparison, from March to April 2021, their revenue decreased by 57%, which is a HUGE loss.
Interestingly, the company states that it’s not its fault for the devastation of the retail business. Instead, they say that it’s mainly due to the government suspension that prohibited massive gatherings, including those in retail bookmakers.
On the brighter side, William Hill’s online business is slowly gaining traction, as people spend more and more time at their homes. Countries like Spain, Germany, and Italy already brought back numerous sports competitions, which opens up new opportunities for betting.
Moreover, UFC, boxing, golf, and NASCAR competitions are bound to start soon, as well. This will, once again, open the betting market further, allowing the existing and new customers to place bets on the website.
When Can We Expect This to Happen?
The bookmaker will not implement its business model yet. As they say, the change will probably be in effect as early as September 2021, where many sports leagues start – hockey, NBA, NFL, and other mainstream sports.
Let’s quickly glance over to 2019, which was also a bad year for this betting giant. In 2019, they had to close down more than 700 land-based betting shops because of FOBT (fixed-odds betting terminal) restrictions. As a result, William Hill lost more than 4,500 employees during the last year.
So, what the future holds for the bookmaker? Right now, not much. Since their business in the UK is falling apart at the moment, they plan on “attacking” the US market.
Betting in the US tricky due to anti-gambling laws and regulations but we’re sure that a betting company of this magnitude can find its way around.
Passionate about sports from a very young age, I have been scouring sports betting sites for over 10 years. This allowed me to become a real expert in the field. It is this expertise that I will try to share through my posts, guides and analyzes on Gamblingking.co.uk.