William Hill boosted by online growth

William Hill said today online revenues grew 33 per cent in the quarter with sports betting exceeding £50m of turnover in a single week for the first time.

The firm employs more than 15,000 people, including around 3,000 staff in Yorkshire, of which more than 1,100 are based in Leeds, where the company has two offices. Under its retail section, operations, human resources and marketing are all based in Leeds, while trading and IT for the whole group are also in the city. The company also has a call centre in Sheffield.

William Hill, which has around 2,370 betting shops and takes more than a million bets a day, said that as well as a strong online performance, profits were also been boosted by a 5 per cent rise in retail revenues. Group revenue grew by 12 per cent.

“The strong performance across the business in the first quarter is pleasing... with positive underlying trends at this relatively early stage in the year, the board remains confident in its expectations for the full year,” it said in a statement.

“Our mobile performance is now benefiting from our Sportsbook app being available in the Apple App Store, giving us access to thousands of new customers who have never bet with William Hill before.”

It added that mobile turnover reached £11m in a single week. Over the counter bets dropped 2 per cent in the period as bad weather in February and fewer horse racing fixtures hurt trade, the company said.