- William Hill has taken over the operation of five Las Vegas sportsbooks formerly operated by CG Technology.
- William Hill also took over operation of Caesars Entertainment books due to their relationship with Eldorado Resorts.
- William Hill now operates sportsbooks in 10 US states along with a racebook in Florida
William Hill has expanded their footprint in the Las Vegas gaming market. At the Nevada Gaming Commission’s August 27 meeting they were approved to take over operation of five sportsbooks previously operated by CG Technology. William Hill will begin operating three of these sportsbooks on Tuesday at The Cosmopolitan, the Venetian and the Silverton. Two properties that were part of the deal remain closed–The Palms and Tropicana. CG Technology also ran the sportsbook at the Hard Rock but that is in the process of being remodeled and rebranded to the Virgin Hotel Las Vegas. The casino at the Virgin property will be run by Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment under the Mohegan Sun brand with the sportsbook run by the US subsidiary of British bookmaking giant Betfred. In addition, William Hill will take over operation of the technology and risk management for the sportsbook at the Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas (which is also closed until further notice).
William Hill US CEO Joe Asher told the Nevada Gaming Commission that the best part of the deal is moving into such top flight properties:
“It’s not so much the market share but the first-class marquee properties we’re getting into.”
The CG Technology deal wasn’t the only move William Hill has made to expand their market share of late. Last year, they signed a deal to be the exclusive sports wagering provider for Eldorado Resorts. With the merger between Eldorado and Caesars Entertainment they move into the company’s Nevada sportsbooks as part of that relationship. That puts them into several high profile properties as CEO Asher told the Las Vegas Review Journal:
“We’ve opened up at Caesars Palace, The Linq, Paris, Bally’s and yesterday at Harrah’s here in Las Vegas. We’re opening up today at Harveys in Lake Tahoe. So the rollout is underway.”
Asher is pleased to be part of the Caesars deal and said that the partnership with Eldorado was an ‘educated bet’:
“Caesars Palace is the most famous casino in the world, so of course we’re ecstatic to operate the sportsbook there. We always thought that there was a chance that (Eldorado Resorts) would end up owning Caesars. It was not a big surprise to us when they bought Caesars, but we’re clearly the beneficiary and we’re riding on their coattails. We definitely bet on the right horse, but it was an educated bet. It wasn’t dumb luck.”
Asher told the NGC that once the dust settles from the move they’ll start making plans to bring some much needed improvements to these sportsbooks:
“Gary Carano, who’s the chairman of Caesars now, has had a particular interest in the odds display board and making sure that the fonts are big enough for customers to see, how crisp they should be. This guy runs the biggest casino company in America and he’s interested in that sort of detail. When I called him up to congratulate him the day that they announced the deal to buy Caesars, the very first thing he said to me was, ‘What do you think of the odds boards at Caesars Palace?’ It shows you how they think about the details and that’s great because that’s what we think about, all the details.”
William Hill now operates sportsbooks in 10 US states and recently entered Colorado’s booming sports betting ecosystem. They also operate a racebook at Florida’s Casino Miami.
