William Hill could face £10m hit from impending credit card ban

Betting giant William Hill has posted annual profits ahead of expectations but warned that it could face a £10m hit from an impending credit card ban.
Football pundit Robbie Savage outside a William Hill in Leeds.Football pundit Robbie Savage outside a William Hill in Leeds.
Football pundit Robbie Savage outside a William Hill in Leeds.

The Gambling Commission’s ban on the use of credit cards for online bets, which will begin in April, is the latest legislative crackdown on the gambling industry after the maximum stake on fixed odds betting terminals was hiked from £2 to £100 last year.

William Hill, which has around 11,300 staff in Leeds, said it shut 713 retail stores in the UK during 2019 on the back of the stake increase, but has reported a smaller drop in profits than previously forecast.

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Ulrik Bengtsson, CEO of William Hill, said: “2019 was a year of transition during which we executed on our ambition to diversify internationally with the acquisition of Mr Green and the continued strong growth of our US business.

“The group delivered a strong operating performance, ahead of our expectations and against a challenging regulatory backdrop.

“We move into 2020 in a stronger position. Almost a quarter of revenue is now generated outside the UK compared to 15 per cent in 2018.

“We made positive progress with our digital platform, launching our purpose-built platform in the US and product developments in the online business in 2019.

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“We will invest in our proprietary technology as we continue to improve the competitiveness of our customer offering. We have also made great progress embedding a culture of safer gambling across the group.

“This is an exciting time to be William Hill’s CEO. Our industry is evolving and this brings great opportunities, underlining the importance of our efforts to reposition the business.

“We look forward to building on these foundations with a renewed focus on customer, team and execution.”

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