Bookies William Hill today rushed out a trading update in the wake of rival Ladbrokes’ profit warning last week.
Despite revealing that third-quarter profits were £20 million lower than expected, Hill made it clear this was entirely down to football match and horseracing results going in punters’ favour rather than the kind of operational issues affecting Ladbrokes.
Hill also admitted one high-rolling online gambler on its casino or poker websites had taken it for £2.5 million in August. The UK-based gambler had a run on the slots which he then rolled over onto roulette very successfully.
Chief executive Ralph Topping said: “It’s tempting to get bogged down in a short trading window but what’s really important is the underlying performance of the business. And at William Hill that’s strong. Particularly in football.”
He pointed out that football wagers were up 49% on a year ago with mobile betting on sports up 115%. Bookies love draws but the number of draws, as seen in Spurs v Chelsea’s 1-1 result last weekend, above, was 40% lower than normal.
