Caesar’s Entertainment Acquires William Hill
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On Wednesday morning, Caesar’s Entertainment and William Hill announced an agreement that would allow Caesar’s to acquire William Hill for £2.9 billion. The acquisition will be a historic agreement between one of the largest U.S. gaming companies in Caesar’s and one of the largest sports betting companies in William Hill.
“The opportunity to combine our land based-casinos, sports betting and online gaming in the U.S. is a truly exciting prospect,” said Caesars Entertainment CEO Tom Reeg. “William Hill’s sports betting expertise will complement Caesars’ current offering, enabling the combined group to serve our customers in the fast-growing U.S. sports betting and online market. We look forward to working with William Hill to support future growth in the U.S. by providing our customers with a superior and comprehensive experience across all areas of gaming, sports betting, and entertainment.”
The deal still has to go through anti-trust approval and should have the full deal completed by the end of 2021.
Why Caesar’s Wanted William Hill
Caesar’s has been of the largest U.S. gaming brands for quite some time now. Starting in Las Vegas, they have expanded their footprint across the country with casinos and resorts. Now, Caesar’s see what sports betting is about to do in the country.
Some analysts believe the sports betting market could become a $30-$35 billion industry, and Caesar’s wants to be apart of it. Caesar’s and William Hill have a joint venture in the U.S. that allows William Hill to operate sports betting platforms at Caesar’s locations.
Partnering together will allow Caesar’s to have a larger impact in the sports betting industry, and William Hill to expand its footprint across the U.S. The deal will also enable William Hill and Caesar’s customers to have crossover into sports betting and casino gaming. The crossover would give William Hill access to 60 million Caesar’s customers to grow its sports betting brand.
The two have also formed partnerships with two of the largest sports media companies in the U.S. Caesar’s is currently partnered with ESPN while William Hill has a media deal with CBS Sports. With the partnership, some experts believe Caesar’s can grow their net revenue by $600-$700 million by the end of 2021.
What Does this Mean for William Hill
William Hill had a back and forth between Apollo Global Management and Caesar’s Entertainment about being acquired. Originally, AGM made an offer, which Caesar’s countered. The issue with William Hill would have been if they went with AGM, then they would have lost their current partnership with Caesar’s overseeing sports betting.
William Hill went with Caesar’s offer and will now be able to expand its sports betting footprint exponentially across the U.S. Partnering with William Hill will also give them Caesar’s customer account to help create a crossover between casino gaming and sports betting.
Caesar’s is one of the largest gaming companies in the U.S., and running their sports betting operations will be huge for William Hill. They already have over 100 locations across the U.S. and will continue to grow with the acquisition and more states legalizing sports betting.
William Hill made the right choice by taking Caesar’s offer and will now capitalize on the U.S. sports betting market share.
