Part 1: The UK market – a split screen
38%, pushing total revenues to £516m. Sky Bet William Hill
was up 46% to £314m and Sky Gaming rose For all the chatter in William Hill’s first-half results
27% to £160m. Although Sky Bet differs hugely and its recent third-quarter trading statement
from bet365 because it does not come with the about UK sportsbook wagering being up by
‘hinterland’ of extensive earnings from elsewhere, between 13% and 14% – and taking into account
it still packs a punch in terms of profitability, with the division-wide improvements in gaming net
EBITDA coming in at £146m for the year. With win, which rose 14% in the third quarter – it
the added advantage of the name recognition remains difficult to substantiate the company’s
among the crucial mass market of sports claims that it is growing market share in the UK.
and betting fans – emphasised by the recent The overall online growth of 6% for the period is
expanded sponsorship deal with the English anaemic at best and although William Hill remains
Football League – the company has clout similar a turnaround situation, this is well behind the
to bet365’s when it comes to marketing and is market leaders. Still, a generous way of looking at
making a lot of running in the innovation stakes, it would suggest the company has demonstrated
with a motivated and dedicated workforce based there is room for improvement. Certainly, in the
largely in Leeds. As with its main competitor in half-year statement the welter of key performance
Stoke, local status counts. indicators rolled out in the presentation might be
suggestive of further growth. New accounts were
Market followers
Ladbrokes Coral up 5%, actives were up 7% and turnover per active
The UK component of Ladbrokes Coral’s digital certainly improved is gaming, where the metrics
revenues is hard to discern. Within the business are all heading in the right direction. The company
sits Ladbrokes.com, Coral.co.uk, the Gala bingo said that in the first-half cross-sell from sports
and casino offerings alongside the (at present) into casino had markedly improved.
on sportsbook was up 19%. One area that has
higher-growth Italian Eurobet and Australian
operations. The third-quarter trading statement Paddy Power Betfair
suggested a mixed picture with regard to the For a supposed market leader, Paddy Power
component parts: Coral.co.uk enjoyed net Betfair is truly struggling to get past the
revenue growth of 13% but this was likely more integration stages of its post-M&A life and
than offset, in UK terms, by the 9% decline at move to the sunny uplands of augmented and
Ladbrokes.com. Galabingo.com was 10% ahead growing revenues. The third-quarter figures online
but a one-off £1m progressive jackpot payout for (ex-Australia) are, in truth, really quite dismal
Galacasino.com meant that total growth for the regardless of the stated tough comparatives (a
Gala offerings stood at 3%. With Australian net factor which affects all). Somewhat unnoticed,
revenue growing at 50% and Eurobet in Italy up generally, has been the decline of the Betfair
36%, and with an unknown quantity of dotcom exchange, where revenues were down 5% for the
revenues at Ladbrokes, it means it’s difficult to period. The good news is that the integration
calculate either the exact scale of the UK portion of the technology platforms is, according to
of the combined entity’s digital earnings or, the release, nearing completion and new Paddy
perhaps more importantly, the direction of travel. Power desktop and mobile front ends are
Paul Leyland, founding partner at gambling apparently already being tested with a select
consultancy Regulus Partners, was pessimistic number of customers. Allied to the financial
at the time of the third-quarter statement, firepower of the group – EBITDA for the full year
suggesting that in the “key battleground” of UK is expected to come in at between £450m and
online betting the company was almost certainly £465m – that means it should be well-positioned
losing market share. to head into 2018 in a positive frame of mind. That
iGaming Business Market Monitor • December 2017
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