William Hill 'in takeover talks'

William Hill was today reported to be in talks on a £500m (€732.2m)-plus deal that would see it leapfrog Ladbrokes to become Britain’s biggest bookmaker.

The company, which has 1,600 sites, is said to have approached gaming group Stanley Leisure over the acquisition of its estate of 600 betting shops.

While a deal would take William Hill beyond the 2,000 outlets operated by Ladbrokes, it is still likely to face competition from other parties, possibly Britain’s third-biggest bookie Coral and pooled betting business the Tote.

The proposed deal could also spark regulatory concerns as William Hill would be left with around a quarter of the total UK estate of 8,500 sites.

Stanley is not thought to have been courting buyers for the business, although the Sunday Times said the company would be prepared to consider an offer if one was made.

The newspaper put a price tag of £500m (€732.2m) on the business, but the Observer said that Stanley could demand more than £700m (€1m).

Representatives of William Hill and Stanley Leisure were unavailable for comment today.

A sale of the betting division would leave Stanley with its casino arm, which owns some of London’s leading gaming halls and 37 sites in cities including Bristol, Liverpool and Birmingham.

The deal will fuel speculation that Liverpool-based Stanley Leisure could be moving towards a merger with casino firm London Clubs International.

News of the possible betting shops acquisition comes a month after William Hill said it had put thoughts of expanding into casinos on the back burner after deciding that gambling deregulation would not offer the hoped-for benefits.

William Hill had previously said it would look at moving into the casino business “if the right opportunity arose”.

In its last financial year, covering the year to December 28, William Hill said its bookmaking division increased profits by 9% to £165.5m (€242.4m).

That reflected a year of contrasting fortunes after favourable results at Euro 2004 were offset by wins for leading teams in the second half of the period.