William Hill's world in motion

Bookmaker William Hill yesterday looked forward to a bumper World Cup summer after growing revenues and profits in the first three months of 2010.
By The Newsroom
Published 29th Apr 2010, 21:44 BST
Updated 29th Apr 2010, 21:45 BST

The group, which has seen "sustained growth" in football betting since the last World Cup, expects to prosper with kick-off times in South Africa ideally suited for European punters. The industry overall is expecting at least 750m to be wagered on the tournament, for which European champions Spain are the current favourites.

William Hill said group revenues were 1 per cent ahead of the previous year in the first quarter, with underlying profits up 3 per cent. While the impact of the January snow disruption was neutral year-on-year – after similar bad weather early in 2009 – the group said sporting results had been favourable over the quarter.

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Bookies cleaned up at the Cheltenham festival while in April the impact of favourite Tony McCoy's Grand National win at the fifteenth attempt was offset by better results earlier in the week.

William Hill saw strong online growth, although gross winnings across its retail arm were down 3 per cent year on year as it suffered against tough trading comparisons with a year earlier.

Related topics:South AfricaSpainGrand National