U.K. gambling
giant William Hill selling Italy betting business
One
of the largest online and offline gambling company in the U.K.,
William Hill, is selling its share of the Italian sports betting
business. After just 18 months in the Italy's betting and
gambling market, William Hill has agreed to sell its joint
venture with Spanish gaming firm Cordere to Turkish rival
Intralot for €5.5 million. The British bookmaker will also write
off £1 million as it exits the Italian betting market.
According to reports, William Hill remains committed to its
joint venture in Spain with Cordere, which trades as Victoria.
The move is sure to displease investors,
as it comes just six months after William Hill was forced to
write off £26 million as it abandoned an in-house betting
software development program. The bookmaker also said that is
planning to overhaul William Hill's underperforming online poker
operation, which has struggled to increase player numbers. The
gambling software provider for Will Hill is CryptoLogic, but an
exclusive deal between the two comes up for renewal at the end
of the year. The U.K. bookmaker is considering switching to one
of a handful of poker network providers that are increasingly
dominating the industry, offering hundreds of millions of
dollars in prize money every month. At this time no further
details have been released concerning the poker software switch.
Published on
07/03/2008
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