William Hill to rebrand new Aussie acquisitions

William Hill the UKs largest bookmaker has decided to abandon the brand names of both their recent purchases Sportingbet & Centrebet in Australia and rename them under the William Hill brand. However the company will keep its most recent Australian acquisition Tom Waterhouse which it bought for $40 million under its same name till the end of December 2015.

The move was announced by CEO of William Hill Ralph Topping in a strategy to take on local rivals Tatts Group and Tabcorp in the growing Australian online betting market.

Topping said combining the brands was necessary because there was confusion in the market between its Sportingbet brand and rival bookmaker Paddy Power-owned Sportsbet. “They’re all strong brands but I believe the strongest brand of the lot is potentially William Hill,” Topping said.

The final decision on branding will be decided in the next two months at the next board meeting of William Hill, but the move is expected to go ahead as planned to ensure the company has a large piece of the $26 billion Australian gambling market.