{"id":71752,"date":"2018-03-02T15:00:20","date_gmt":"2018-03-02T23:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=71752"},"modified":"2018-08-06T00:48:25","modified_gmt":"2018-08-06T07:48:25","slug":"sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Sportsbet and CrownBet Duke It Out for William Hill Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are now just two horses in the race to buy William Hill Australia. The<\/em> Australian Financial Review<\/em> reported Friday that Paddy Power-owned Sportsbet and the Stars Group\u2019s newly acquired CrownBet are still in the running, after Ladbrokes and Bet365<\/a> fell at the first fence.<\/p>\n

\"Sportsbet
Two-Horse Race: Sportsbet and CrownBet are courting William Hill Australia as they look for consolidation in what has become a tough market. Only this week, CrownBet itself was acquired by PokerStars parent, the Stars Group. (Image: Vince Caligiuri\/Getty)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

AFR<\/em> understands that all four suitors submitted bids by Monday\u2019s morning\u2019s 8am deadline but only Sportsbet and Crownbet<\/a> have been given access to black box due diligence to proceed with the process.<\/p>\n

Offers are firmly under wraps but the unit is believed to be worth around AU$200 million ($155 million). AFR<\/em> sources say that the winning bidder will probably be announced sometime next week.<\/p>\n

A day after CrownBet reportedly submitted its bid, PokerStars parent, the Stars Group, acquired a 51 percent controlling stake in the business from James Packer\u2019s Crown Resorts. The takeover process will proceed with minimal disruption to CrownBet\u2019s corporate structure and is unlikely to have any impact on the William Hill bid.<\/p>\n

$333 Million Write-Down<\/strong><\/h2>\n

William Hill Australia generated AU$201.1 million in gross gaming revenues ($156 million) and a AU$29.9 million ($23 million) operating profit in 2017, according to figures reported last week.<\/p>\n

\n

But the William Hill Group was forced to write down<\/a> the value of the business, declaring a $333 million impairment charge, which dragged the group\u2019s overall earnings into the red. The devaluation is largely due to Australia\u2019s ban on credit betting, which came into force earlier this month, but a ban on in-play betting, new taxes and advertising rules are also expected to take their toll.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The country is threatening\u00a0to implement a point-of-consumption tax, which will subject betting companies to taxation in each of Australia\u2019s six states, rather than just the state in which they are licensed.<\/p>\n

Market Will Consolidate<\/strong><\/h2>\n

During an earnings call last week, William Hill CEO Philip Bowcock noted that the Australian business \u201ctook a higher level of bets using credit than others\u201d and lamented that Australia was \u201ca different place\u201d when it entered the market in 2013.<\/p>\n

Sportsbet and CrownBet will also be facing these new regulatory challenges over the coming year, which is why consolidation with William Hill makes a great deal of sense, allowing them to achieve greater scale and generate cost savings.<\/p>\n

Last year Sportsbet emerged as the country\u2019s biggest corporate online bookmaker with an estimated 15 percent of the betting market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are now just two horses in the race to buy William Hill Australia. The Australian Financial Review reported Friday that Paddy Power-owned Sportsbet and the Stars Group\u2019s newly acquired CrownBet are still in the running, after Ladbrokes and Bet365 fell at the first fence. AFR understands that all four suitors submitted bids by Monday\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":71762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10,14577,19,1,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSportsbet and CrownBet Duke It Out for William Hill Australia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sportsbet and CrownBet are now the only two bidders for William Hill Australia as Ladbrokes and Bet365 were rejected this week. A winner is expected to be announced next week.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sportsbet and CrownBet Duke It Out for William Hill Australia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sportsbet and CrownBet are now the only two bidders for William Hill Australia as Ladbrokes and Bet365 were rejected this week. A winner is expected to be announced next week.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/\" \/>\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=\"2018-03-02T23:00:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-08-06T07:48:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/will-hill-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\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\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/\",\"name\":\"Sportsbet and CrownBet Duke It Out for William Hill Australia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/will-hill-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-02T23:00:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-08-06T07:48:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"Sportsbet and CrownBet are now the only two bidders for William Hill Australia as Ladbrokes and Bet365 were rejected this week. A winner is expected to be announced next week.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/will-hill-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/will-hill-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1440,\"caption\":\"Two Horse Race: Sportsbet and CrownBet are courting William Hill Australia as they look for consolidation in what has become a tough market. Only this week, CrownBet itself was acquired by PokerStars parent, the Stars Group. (Image: Vince Caligiuri\/Getting)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Financial\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Sportsbet and CrownBet Duke It Out for William Hill Australia\"}]},{\"@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\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\",\"name\":\"Casino.org Staff Writer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Casino.org Staff Writer\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/corg-staff-writer\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sportsbet and CrownBet Duke It Out for William Hill Australia","description":"Sportsbet and CrownBet are now the only two bidders for William Hill Australia as Ladbrokes and Bet365 were rejected this week. A winner is expected to be announced next week.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sportsbet and CrownBet Duke It Out for William Hill Australia","og_description":"Sportsbet and CrownBet are now the only two bidders for William Hill Australia as Ladbrokes and Bet365 were rejected this week. A winner is expected to be announced next week.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2018-03-02T23:00:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-08-06T07:48:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1440,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/will-hill-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Casino.org Staff Writer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Casino.org Staff Writer","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/","name":"Sportsbet and CrownBet Duke It Out for William Hill Australia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/will-hill-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2018-03-02T23:00:20+00:00","dateModified":"2018-08-06T07:48:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77"},"description":"Sportsbet and CrownBet are now the only two bidders for William Hill Australia as Ladbrokes and Bet365 were rejected this week. A winner is expected to be announced next week.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/will-hill-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/will-hill-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1440,"caption":"Two Horse Race: Sportsbet and CrownBet are courting William Hill Australia as they look for consolidation in what has become a tough market. Only this week, CrownBet itself was acquired by PokerStars parent, the Stars Group. (Image: Vince Caligiuri\/Getting)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbet-and-crownbet-duke-it-out-for-william-hill-australia\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Financial","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/financial\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Sportsbet and CrownBet Duke It Out for William Hill Australia"}]},{"@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\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77","name":"Casino.org Staff Writer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Casino.org Staff Writer"},"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/corg-staff-writer\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71752"}],"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\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}