William Hill Results Show Increased H1 Revenues

William Hill, the leading UK gambling group, has posted its interim results for the first half of 2013, in the period ending July 2nd, and showed that revenues had grown significantly when compared to the same period last year.

Revenues for the first half of 2013 climbed 20% to £751.6 million, mainly due to an incredible growth in mobile gambling. In fact, William Hill mobile operations delivered double digit operating profit growth during the period.

Ralph Topping, the chief executive of William Hill said about mobile gambling: "It has come from nowhere in the past few years and now makes up 40% of our turnover."

William Hill Online Gambling Booming

Online gambling is also booming for William Hill, with a 44% online sports revenues rise boosting overall online revenues by 18% to £234 million.

William Hill mobile sportsbook amounts bet were up 112%, while mobile gaming revenue grew an unprecedented 198%.

Besides the success of mobile betting, another factor that impacted Will Hill's results was royal baby betting. The UK bookie reported that it had made a tidy profit on the new prince.

"There was a lot of interest in the sex of the child and weight of the baby, most people were coming in were favouring a girl," said Topping. "They got that one wrong, and the colour of its hair too, a lot of people bet on red."

Topping revealed that Will Hill took in £400K on the event and made a profit. "Maybe we'll send someone round to the palace to ask when they're planning the next one so we can get the book ready," quipped the CEO.

William Hill Bolstered by Acquisitions

A flurry of acquisitions in the first half also affected numbers in the William Hill first half revenues report, including Playtech's shares in the joint William Hill online venture.

Share prices have risen 70% in the past year and investors are showing their satisfaction.

"We're doing well all over the place, even in retail