{"id":185177,"date":"2021-09-08T10:57:10","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T17:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=185177"},"modified":"2021-09-08T18:29:11","modified_gmt":"2021-09-09T01:29:11","slug":"888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"888 Holdings \u2018\u00a32B’ Agreement for William Hill Europe is Real, Say UK Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

888 Holdings sealed the deal to buy William Hill\u2019s European assets from Caesars Entertainment Inc for north of \u00a32 billion (US$2.76 billion ), according to The Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Itai
888 CEO Itai Pazner, seen in a photo above, has hinted that retail betting could be an asset for his company. (888 Holdings)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The British national newspaper on Wednesday was sticking by its sources that 888 had \u201cwon the race\u201d to acquire the heritage betting company\u2019s operations in its UK base and across Europe.<\/p>\n

An online report to that effect published by The Times<\/em> on Tuesday morning prompted 888 to announce<\/a> just hours later it was merely in \u201cadvanced talks\u201d with Caesars. There was \u201cno certainty\u201d discussions would result in a transaction, the company said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

While no additional announcement from 888 has been forthcoming, The Times<\/em> was sticking to its guns today.<\/p>\n

It reiterated that the Gibraltar-based online gaming giant had outbid its closest rival, the US private equity firm Apollo Capital Management. It is a deal \u201cestimated\u201d to be worth more than \u00a32 billion.<\/p>\n

“The sale process, run by Deutsche Bank, comprises the William Hill brand, which dates to 1934, its betting shops, and the bookmaker\u2019s online operations in Britain and Europe,\u201d The Times<\/em> insisted today.<\/p>\n

Caesars Reject<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Caesars acquired William Hill for US$3.69 billion last year, but made it clear at the time that it had no interest in the company’s core European unit and would seek \u201calternative owners.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Prior to the acquisition, the Nevada-based casino giant already had a joint venture in place with William Hill the US, the leading sportsbook operator in the Nevada market. Since the US Supreme Court lifted the federal ban on sports betting, the American unit has made significant inroads as new states begin to regulate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

While the European division is currently more valuable, its operations have been stymied in recent years by a tightening of regulation in Europe, not least<\/a> in its home country, the UK. Meanwhile, the US is expected to quickly become the biggest regulated sports betting market in the world.<\/p>\n

Questions Remain about Betting Shops<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Goodbody analyst David Brohan said Wednesday that the deal would transform 888\u2019s scale and earnings profile.<\/p>\n

It was always likely to be in a strong position, given the potential it has to drive material synergies given its priority technology,\u201d<\/strong> he added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If the deal is on, as The Times<\/em> asserts, the question remains of what will become of William Hill\u2019s 1,414 betting shops across the UK.<\/p>\n

888 has always been strictly online-only, and the addition of land-based operations could prove onerous, as the UK faces a regulatory clampdown.<\/p>\n

It’s widely expected to offload the retail outlets, and UK operator Betfred has expressed an interest in taking them on. But tantalizingly, in a March earnings call, 888 CEO Itai Pazner suggested that William Hill\u2019s retail business \u201ccould be an interesting asset.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are benefits to owning betting shops,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

888 Holdings sealed the deal to buy William Hill\u2019s European assets from Caesars Entertainment Inc for north of \u00a32 billion (US$2.76 billion ), according to The Times. The British national newspaper on Wednesday was sticking by its sources that 888 had \u201cwon the race\u201d to acquire the heritage betting company\u2019s operations in its UK base […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":185184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,32093],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n888 Holdings \u00a32 Billion Agreement for William Hill Europe is Real Deal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"888 Holdings has struck a $2 billion deal to acquire William Hill Europe with Caesars, despite denial, says The Times.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"888 Holdings \u00a32 Billion Agreement for William Hill Europe is Real Deal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"888 Holdings has struck a $2 billion deal to acquire William Hill Europe with Caesars, despite denial, says The Times.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-08T17:57:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-09T01:29:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/itai.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"557\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/\",\"name\":\"888 Holdings \u00a32 Billion Agreement for William Hill Europe is Real Deal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/itai.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-08T17:57:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-09T01:29:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"888 Holdings has struck a $2 billion deal to acquire William Hill Europe with Caesars, despite denial, says The Times.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/itai.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/itai.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":557,\"caption\":\"888 CEO Itai Pazner has hinted that retail betting could be an asset for his company. (888 Holdings)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mergers and Acquisitions\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mergers-and-acquisitions\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"888 Holdings \u2018\u00a32B’ Agreement for William Hill Europe is Real, Say UK Media\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"888 Holdings \u00a32 Billion Agreement for William Hill Europe is Real Deal","description":"888 Holdings has struck a $2 billion deal to acquire William Hill Europe with Caesars, despite denial, says The Times.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"888 Holdings \u00a32 Billion Agreement for William Hill Europe is Real Deal","og_description":"888 Holdings has struck a $2 billion deal to acquire William Hill Europe with Caesars, despite denial, says The Times.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2021-09-08T17:57:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-09-09T01:29:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":557,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/itai.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/","name":"888 Holdings \u00a32 Billion Agreement for William Hill Europe is Real Deal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/itai.jpg","datePublished":"2021-09-08T17:57:10+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-09T01:29:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"888 Holdings has struck a $2 billion deal to acquire William Hill Europe with Caesars, despite denial, says The Times.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/itai.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/itai.jpg","width":1000,"height":557,"caption":"888 CEO Itai Pazner has hinted that retail betting could be an asset for his company. (888 Holdings)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/888-holdings-2-billion-agreement-for-william-hill-europe-is-real-deal\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mergers and Acquisitions","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mergers-and-acquisitions\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"888 Holdings \u2018\u00a32B’ Agreement for William Hill Europe is Real, Say UK Media"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185177"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}