The gambling behemoth William Hill has announced it will be closing three of its online casino offshoots in January.
EuroGrand, 21Nova and Casino Club will all cease to trade in the coming weeks, with the firm declaring their intention to ‘streamline’ their European operations as the main reason behind the decision. William Hill admitted that the trio were considered expendable following an ‘extensive evaluation of our assets and business footprint.’
Now, William Hill will instead focus on a smaller array of online casino entities, including its own in-house offering and that of Mr Green, which it acquired in January 2019 for £242 million.
Online continues to drive William Hill’s strong financial performance, with 61% of all revenue in 2020 coming from their online channels, but they plant to invest more heavily in their own casino and Mr Green rather than a more diversified portfolio.
A statement from William Hill confirms their plans, while revealing that no further streamlining measures would be taken in the near future.
“We have taken a strategic decision to close our EuroGrand, 21Nova and William Hill Casino Club brands. This comes as part of our continuous evaluation of our brands and business footprint,” the firm stated.
The closures will take place with almost immediate effect, with all three brands no longer accepting new customers as of Monday November 29. Existing customers of EuroGrand, 21Nova and Casino Club will have until January 24, 2022 to continue playing and/or withdraw their account funds. As of January 25, all three will cease to exist.
A Fresh Start
Customers of the three affected brands can transfer their accounts to William Hill or Mr Green, where they will be treated to the same terms if they are actively engaged in the rewards programme of EuroGrand, 21Nova or Casino Club.
EuroGrand was founded in 2006, and 21 Nova – powered by Playtech software – also made its debut that same year. The Casino Club, an offshoot brand established by William Hill themselves, began trading in 2009.
Instead, they will focus on their William Hill Casino and Mr Green platforms, while maintaining the likes of Redbet and Mama Mia Bingo, which they currently operate.
Even though their UK-facing operations accounted for 64% of their earnings in 2020, it’s something of a surprise that William Hill appears to be turning their back on this market.
The main reason for that will surely be the input of Caesars Entertainment, who acquired William Hill for £2.89 billion in April 2021. They will make the most of Hills’ assets primarily in the US market, and have already cut adrift many of their European-facing entities.
All of their non-US enterprises, including more than 1,000 betting shops in the UK, have now been sold to 888 Holdings for a cool £2.2 billion.
There is some confusion as to who will actually run the William Hill and Mr Green casinos, and whether these will eventually be taken over by 888 or continue as enterprises owned by Caesars Entertainment. For the time being, gamers can continue to play at those sites as normal.