You must be already aware of Caesars Entertainment Inc. Caesars Entertainment Inc. is a huge company that has now acquired William Hill, which is another biggie in the world of casinos. This merger is big news in many ways. William Hill is considered the 3rd largest sportsbook operator and now they have entered the U.S market with this merger.
The deal between Caesars Entertainment Inc. and William Hill was quoted as $4 billion. The acquisition gives full control and ownership of William Hill’s digital and land-based assets pertaining to gaming within the United States of America.
Tom Reeg, the CEO of Caesars Entertainment Inc., said that they were happy that the acquisition process was completed with William Hill and that they look forward to announcing sports partnerships in the future that will drive long-term growth. Combining two premium companies from the iGaming and sports betting industries is surely going to benefit both the companies as well as the United States.
How many markets will be covered in the United States?
Initially, the merger was fixed at 3.7 billion. William Hill’s stakeholders tried to contest this merger citing non-disclosure of all the terms of the deal. The United Kingdom court gave a decision in the company’s favor and gave a green signal for the merger.
The deal is now sealed which means William Hill can run sports betting in each state through Caesars Entertainment Inc’s market access and brick-and-mortar sportsbook for other casinos that control properties along with Caesar’s retail sports betting.
The companies combined have 18 jurisdictions in which they can do their sports betting operations in the United States of America. Out of these 18 jurisdictions, 13 offer mobile sports betting for users. Their aim is to be in 20 markets by the end of the year.
Caesars has the intention to sell William Hills businesses that are non-U.S based which includes international and U.K retail betting shops that are more than 1,400 shops and online divisions. The deal will also expand the loyalty program by Caesars Rewards to the members of William Hill. This will allow the movement of Caesar to offer a single wallet for customers who want to indulge in online gaming or sports betting.
Area Of Growth
There is a rapid growth in the legal U.S sports betting industry over the few years. It has been expanding in newer markets. Currently, in the country, there are 22 live sports betting jurisdictions along with six states where betting is legal but it isn’t operational yet. Acquiring William Hill will be extremely beneficial for both companies as William Hill has been seeing some difficulties in its home market.
In the U.S, sports betting has just picked up momentum while in the UK it has been legal for over 100 years. Though William Hill may be a smaller company than Caesars which is a casino giant it will surely benefit from this merger thanks to the expertise they have in this business. William Hill was the first bookmaker for the UK to enter the U.S market and give exclusive rights to Caesars which makes it a fantastic and successful partnership.