Boylesports takes over 35 William Hill Shops

Boylesports, Ireland’s largest bookmaker, will take over a total of 35 betting shops from the British sports betting provider William Hill in Northern Ireland and on the Isle of Man. Boylesports officially announced that last week. The gambling market in the UK appears to the company extremely attractive after the Irish market is increasingly suffering from the increasingly closer -tied national and European gambling regulations.

Changes in the law of gambling regulations lead to strategic realignment

At first glance, the sale of William Hill’s betting shops appears like a logical conclusion of the changing gambling regulations in Great Britain. But these not only do here, but to seriously create the gambling company across Europe. The increasing demands on player protection as well as the state interventions and limits of the gaming offer are also offset by the tax revenue that are due. This conflict and the partially contradicting national legislation with European law ensure that more and more tax havens are being created within Europe for gambling providers that use these legislative gaps.

In Great Britain there was a recent cut into the gaming regulations after The maximum insert of £ 100 was reduced to 2 pounds of sterling per bet. The inpatient betting agencies suffer with their betting terminals, which is why the multi -million dollar deal between the gambling giants and William Hill is a logical consequence. Boylesports pays the British bookmaker appreciated a price of £ 10 to £ 15 million for the 35 betting agencies, 33 of which are located in Northern Ireland and two on the Isle of Man.

Boylesports see significantly more potential in the stationary betting market despite the law restrictions, although the company is also permanently present online. The managing director Conor Gray from Boylesports sees the takeover as one the largest and most important strategy steps of the bookmaker to date. Abroad is increasingly attractive for the Irish sports betting provider, as Gray reveals:

“Boylesports is pleased to implement his long -planned endeavor to develop a significant presence in the retail trade of Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. The increase in betting tax causes us to focus on future investments on outside the Republic of Ireland. “

There is good news for the employees who have previously worked in the betting shops falling under the deal. Your existing contracts are not affected by the takeover and continue to run as usual. Job deletions will not be planned in the future, why the employees would not have to worry.

Bookmaker William Hill withdraws piece by piece from the British gaming market

The economic chances of success that Boylesports seem to have recognized on the inpatient British gambling market are apparently evaluated by the English bookmaker William Hill. The sale of the 35 betting agencies is a step of many through which William Hill keeps pulling back from the British gaming market. Already after the new FOBT regulation came into force, the British sports betting provider had with me the closure of around 700 inpatient betting shops an exclamation mark set. There was a not inconsiderable proportion of them in Northern Ireland. Here William Hill seems to want to leave the market completely.

Operators of arcades and betting offices follow the amendment to the law. ”Although gambling providers in Northern Ireland are not directly affected by the FOBT law amendment, there is a large movement of the arcades and betting shops based in Northern Ireland. These have largely decided to voluntarily follow the legal requirements in terms of player protection. The government of Northern Ireland also reacted to the amendment to the law and announced that it also binding its own gaming regulations in the near future. ”

Despite the new FOBT regulations, the first figures indicate not to have any special effects on William Hill’s success. On the contrary, the British bookmaker expected a profit of £ 130 million in the 2019 financial year. The first results point to one significantly higher profit between 143 and 148 million pounds of sterling. Nevertheless, William Hill’s business strategy is increasingly aimed at the online market and the recently liberalized US sports betting market. Boylesports will show in the future whether the takeover of the betting shops was a success story and a real step.