William Hill & Caesars Discussed Merger Report Says

A report from The Times newspaper has said that UK bookmaker William Hill and US casino giant Caesars held talks over a merger back in the Autumn of 2018.

Had those talks been successful it would have created a gambling giant valued a £6 billion, however the talks failed because shareholders believed to be from William Hill did not agree with the price valued of their shares.

The benefits of having a gambling firm with such a reach geographically would have been a major draw to both companies. With William Hill suffering in their home market with the reduction of the Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) impacting on their bottom line as the company is the second largest operator of retail outlets in the UK. That combined with the fact William Hill has not seen their online business pick up the slack from the damage FOBTs have done.

Indeed the companies 2018 full results showed a loss of £722 million compared to a profits of £146.5 million the year previously.

Philip Bowcock, the CEO of William Hill has stated several times that the company are looking to the US for increased revenues and profits, even thou the UK betting firm acquired European online operator Mr Green for £242 Million last year and is hoping that purchase will help with propping up results for 2019.

With Caesars also being pushed for a merger or sale by leading investor Carl Icahn this is certainly not the last you will hear on both companies looking to do business, it could be that both will again have talk this year but for now both William Hill and Caesars are looking elsewhere to help them both grow scale and profitability.