William Hill takeover by Caesars confirmed by shareholders

Jobs should not be lost through this transaction. However, a large number of land-based betting shops are to be sold in the UK. It is rumored that these may be bought by Apollo, a British company. Apollo Global Management had already shown interest in the past and offered to take over the entire company. The deal did not materialize at the end of August this year, however, and the shareholders decided to merge with Caesars, who only shortly after Apollo had put an offer on the table alongside other interested parties. Caesars had around 272 pence, which is about 2.98 euros per share. That is roughly equivalent to £ 2.9 billion. Among other things, 888 and GVC Holdings are said to have considered a purchase.

The rumors of this takeover naturally ensured that the campaign shot up suddenly. Apollo couldn’t keep up with Caesars’ offer. But the financial aspect was not the only advantage Caesars had over Apollo: Caesars is William Hill’s partner in US sports betting.

Only the approval of the shareholders was missing

The takeover of William Hill by Caesars was announced in October. Everything was wrapped up. Only the approval of the shareholders was missing to complete the deal. But they have now spoken out in favor of the deal. The merger is currently rated even higher than originally assumed: In total, around 81.3 percent of the shareholders make up 86.6 percent of the issued share capital. These shareholders approved the merger, which cost around 3.1 billion euros. Thus, all William Hill betting offers are being transferred to the Caesars iGaming and sports betting franchise.

We are currently working hard on operational business and clarifying the regulatory framework. Caesars is already extremely positive about the merger and looks to the future with optimism: It is estimated that around 700 billion US dollars in net profits will be generated in the next year.

Not the first current merger for Caesars

Caesars seems to be in a fusion mood lately: It wasn’t until the summer of last year that there was a major merger between Caesars and Eldorado Resorts. Since both gambling competitors have enormous market strength, this merger took some time and had to be examined on several levels by various supervisory organizations. It was particularly important for this transaction to obtain approval from the Nevada Gaming Control Board. Without this, the merger could not have taken place. In the end, however, there was an okay from the side and Eldorado swallowed Caesars for a whopping 17.3 billion US dollars. So you can hardly imagine the dimensions of this merger. On the world-famous Las Vegas Strip alone, a number of properties became the property of Eldorado: Caesars Palace, Linq Resort, Planet Hollywood, Haarahs Las Vegas, Ballys Las Vegas, Cromwell, Paris Las Vegas and Flamingo Las Vegas.

William Hill was already in a sports betting agreement with Eldorado in 2019: This means that the merger will result in incredible market forces. William Hill now has the chance to expand its land-based business to around 170 locations. Mobile sports betting is already available in seven US states. These include: Nevada, Iowa, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and West Virginia. In the US capital Washington D. C., William Hill also has a very exclusive land-based betting shop in the Capital One Area. The Capital One Area is a multi-purpose arena that is also home to the Washington Capitals, the National Hockey League, and the Washington Wizards basketball team. Mike Tyson had his last professional boxing match in the Capital One Area, which he lost to Irish Kevin McBride.

The US sports betting market is booming

William Hill is also one of the bookmakers who suffered economic losses due to COVID-19. The merger with Caesars also makes sense from this point of view. Because this gives William Hill the opportunity to gain a foothold in the US market and make better profits in the future. The growing importance of sports betting in the United States has contributed to the success of Caesars. The stakes in the US sports betting market were around $ 2.1 billion last month. This is the largest betting volume ever recorded in the US. So it makes sense for giant corporations like Caesars to merge with companies from Europe: they can get even more profit from the thriving market.