Online Gambling Heavyweight Has Purchased Australian Bookmaker Tom Waterhouse

Added: August 15, 2013

William Hill is an online gambling company without peer. One of the largest, longest running online casino operators in the world. Originally a UK based high street bookmaker, William Hill has grown to cover just about every aspect of the gambling market, most recently its online casino endeavors.

Over the last few months William Hill has been trying very hard to break in to the profitable Australian online casino market. Just a while back William Hill paid almost £900 million to purchase its major competitor in Australia, Sportingbet, lock stock and barrel. Just think about that a moment, that’s almost a billion UK pounds to acquire a localized online gambling firm, serious investment.

Just this week, William Hill has acquired another Australian online gambling company, the established online bookmaker Tom Waterhouse. This was a small deal compare to the Sportingbet purchase, just £20 million up front, but still a major investment in a localized online casino market. William Hill will also pick up around £4 million in debts that Tom Waterhouse owes, and also pay around £17 million more depending upon the success of Tom Waterhouse post-acquisition.

Speaking on behalf of William Hill, Ralph Topping, the CEO has said that, “We are pleased to have secured this acquisition. International expansion is a key part of our growth strategy and making Australia our second home is a priority. The Sportingbet acquisition gave us a strong and proven platform with an experienced management team.”

Of course, paying out £900 million to purchase your major competitor is going to give any company, in any market, a real boost, so this statement is really just noise. However, Ralph Topping went on to say that, “Acquiring tomwaterhouse.com gives us a rapidly growing business that appeals to a complementary customer base. We are bringing together some of the best talent in the bookmaking industry into one formidable team. I’m impressed by Tom Waterhouse and his team, who are passionate and entrepreneurial.”

Now this is a lot more interesting, as Tom Waterhouse is a pretty small fry online bookmaker compared to Sportingbet. But just think for a moment, in many ways, Tom Waterhouse is very much like the early William Hill company. As such, we can see why William Hill would find the acquisition both attractive, and also valuable, they are on well-trodden ground, in a fresh new market. Keep an eye on William Hill, we think they are about to capture the Australian online gambling market in a big way.