In yesterday’s trading update British bookmaker William Hill PLC announced that the Group continued to show resilience throughout 2008 and, compared to 2007 figures, had an 8% increase in gross win for the 11 weeks since the Interim Management Statement issued on 20 October. The Board expects that total gross win for 2008 will have increased 6% compared to 2007, with earnings before interest, tax and exceptional items to be around £275 million.

In December William Hill launched its new sportsbook www.williamhill.com on the Orbis software platform and also established William Hill Online following completion of the transaction with Playtech PLC. William Hill Online is the leading European online betting and gaming business operated by a listed company. It offers Internet-based sports betting, casino, poker and bingo. The online sportsbook serves customers from over 175 countries.

William Hill’s land-based operations include a network of over 2,300 shops in the UK and Ireland, and a telephone betting service of two call centres capable of handling over 600 calls simultaneously. The Group also has a joint-venture retail business in Spain, the Victoria brand, and employs over 15,000 people in the UK, Ireland, Israel and Bulgaria.

The company presently is in dialogue with its banks on its borrowing facilities, the majority of which are due to mature in approximately 14 months in March 2010. The Group is preparing to undertake the refinancing of these facilities in due course. William Hill expects to release its preliminary announcement of the 2008 full-year results on 27 February 2009. (E-01.16.09)

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