$20 Million Sale By William Hill
Published: Monday, December 12, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
$20 MILLION OFFICE SALE BY WILLIAM HILL
UK gambling giant William Hill sells off another 48 shops
UK bookie firm William Hill agreed this week to sell 48 of its offices
to the Wigan-based Tote group for GBP 20 million.
The deal is expected to be completed within the next two weeks and comes after
William Hill was told by the Office of Fair Trading to offload around 50
of the betting offices it acquired earlier this year from the retail arm of Stanley
Leisure.
The deal follows the sale of 28 other sites to the Tote in September as part of
William Hill's own attempts to address regulatory concerns.
Tote's betting office estate now exceeds 500 offices. The firm also has a presence
on each of the 59 racecourses in Britain, as well as internet and telephone betting
operations.
In May, William Hill paid GBP 504 million for 624 Stanley shops in a deal that
left it equal with Ladbrokes as the industry's biggest player.
In July, following the first sale of 28 sites to the Tote, William Hill said the
disposal to its state-owned rival reduced the impact of the Stanley acquisition
on local competition. But it expressed disappointment at the Office of Fair Trading's
ruling a month later to sell around 50 more.
