Do Modern Bookmakers Lack Personality?

If you were to go back about 25 to 30 years, then you would see a very different sports betting scene. The online world of sports betting did not yet exist. Instead, people would amble down to their local bookie to place bets on various sports. A few companies ruled the roost at that time, too. William Hill. Victor Chandler. Ladbrokes. Coral. Betfred. Paddy Power. And so on.

While many of these shops existed, they were all under one of those few names. The vast majority of those shops were all based around people. William Hill was an actual person who founded the company in 1934. William Chandler founded the Victor Chandler brand in 1931. They existed as representations of their founders’ personalities.

Things are very different in today’s sports betting world. Much of the business has moved online, due to the fact that placing a wager this way is more convenient for most people. Some people still visit land-based bookies, but it definitely isn’t as popular as it once was. There is a mass of online companies providing sports betting options today, too. These have flooded the betting world with their websites and mobile apps. It is also because of this that many land-based betting shops have closed their doors. In 2020, a total of 460 bookies closed for good.

While that bodes well for the online scene, is is true to say that there is no personality in sports betting now? The mass of websites offering sports wagering could very much be carbon copies of each other. Even the online versions of brands like William Hill and so on are being bought out.

This means that they have also sunk under the umbrella of a bigger, faceless group as a result. Why is this the case, though? What would drive them to this sort of outcome? Are people happy with faceless betting brands being at the forefront? It may be that the simple answer is it’s due to a changing of the times. Do people care about these changes? Would they prefer things back the way they were before? We’re going to delve deeper into whether bookmakers today lack personality or not.

The Big Takeover Deals and Why

You would think that a company with so many years under its belt like William Hill wouldn’t agree to a buyout. It’s been operating on the high streets since 1934 and entered the online betting world early, too. Yet in 2020, an announcement arose that Caesars Entertainment would be acquiring it. In a takeover worth £2.9 billion, the U.S. firm labelled it as a “historic acquisition”. In April of the following year, the deal was almost complete.

In 2012, William Hill launched the U.S. arm of its operations. This occurred in partnership with Caesars. That side of its business was so successful that it is now the largest sports betting brand in the country. Of course, that attracted a lot of attention. It wasn’t long before the board at William Hill received two huge buyout offers. Money talks, and with Caesars already having a 20% stake in the company, they sealed the deal.

Once the deal had completed, Caesars Entertainment became sole owner of William Hill. There was one part that it had no desire to keep a hold of, though – the high street betting shops. Thus, in September of 2021, it sold these to the 888 Holdings brand for £2.2 billion. Caesars wanted to maintain the expertise of William Hill to take over the U.S. sports betting scene. Everything else was of no interest, so the deal with 888 saw the remaining assets change hands. In any event, William Hill no longer owns William Hill. It falls under the Caesars (for the US arm) and 888 Holdings (for European assets, sites and shops).

That story isn’t one that is unique, either. Mergers and acquisitions have been taking place in the UK sports betting scene for years. Even more so in the past 5 to 10 years, it would be true to say. Paddy Power and Betfair merged to create the Flutter Entertainment company. It then went on to take over The Stars Group.

Ladbrokes and Coral merged in 2016 before GVC Holdings bought the company in 2017. That company then rebranded to Entain in December 2020. Of the companies operating high street shops, only Betfred remains under its own name.

Without a doubt, the brands like Ladbrokes and Coral and Paddy Power still have a presence. The issue is that they do not have as much personality anymore. Paddy Power will always stand out if it continues operating in its own way. It always seems to be trying to draw attention to itself with controversial moves. Yet even so, it is under the power of Flutter Entertainment. That’s a massive brand which owns several companies.

The big brands like Flutter and Entain want to take over the sports betting scene. The best way they can do this is by acquiring a variety of brands. They have the capital to do that. If they throw massive sums at brands, as they have done, then they’re likely to come out on top. This sees them add more companies to their roster and then move on to the next. It comes across as being all about money and being the biggest company in the field. The likelihood is that that’s the exact reason they proceed with such deals. Yet it does seem to take away from the bookmakers’ names and brands.

A Reflection of the Times?

The sports betting industry changes like anything else. In the digital age, it has grown at a lot faster pace than ever before. More and more brands are launching online, giving people a variety of sites to select from. Yet the bigger brands will always get the larger share of the market. Which is likely why companies like Entain are taking over so many known brands. They want to dominate the industry to get the bigger part of the profit from it.

You can compare it in a simple way to the shopping sector. Today, many people visit a supermarket to do their weekly shop. This includes brands like Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Marks and Spencer and so on. These are big names in the food industry. They dominate the sector in the same way that the bigger sports betting brands do. Yet if you were to go back a few decades, that would not be the case.

Many people would visit their local greengrocers and similar shops. Business would thus go to these local smaller companies, keeping them alive. With the boom of supermarkets and hypermarkets though, people found them more convenient. They had everything under one roof in big quantities. A revolution occurred and shoppers started going to supermarkets more than local stores.

Some have suggested that that sort of revolution has happened in the sports betting scene. Now, there are fewer names in operation and instead a swathe of big-brand companies occupy it. One big company that has remained active under its own name is Bet365. This started out from a portacabin in Stoke-on-Trent in 2000.

Yet it has always been an online sportsbook with no physical establishments. That company is already big enough within the sector to not need to branch out. Of course, this does not mean that it won’t do so at some point. No company is beyond such temptation if the price is good enough. The fact that Bet365 remains a private company is one of the reasons why it is still independent. Alongside Betfred, which does have physical shops, these two companies are British operations. They have not gone through takeovers from bigger companies.

The UK betting scene in itself is changing as well. This is due in part to changing gambling laws. Stricter legislation and hefty fines have been commonplace in the UK in recent times. Such issues have made it harder for companies to operate. There is so much that they have to adhere to that there is the constant threat of penalties. Entain has suffered one of these in recent times, having to pay £17 million by the UKGC.

With the scrapping of the PASPA law in the USA, the sports betting market opened up there. This meant that each individual state could introduce its own gambling laws. Many of them did in the early days, and several others have done so since then. This left quite the gap for UK betting companies to make their mark on the U.S. scene.

Of course, big profits were waiting there, too. Temptation for UK bookies to enter into that industry was high. Again, it sparked a competitive edge in them. William Hill and several others took the opportunity to get involved in it. The UK has been wanting to crack the sports betting sector in the USA for some time. It is necessary to have money to come to terms on deals with casinos there. This likely served as a reason for some of the UK brands to accept acquisition deals.

How Does The Future Look?

Does the British betting scene have a big future? Well, when it comes to the land-based betting market, it may be a negative answer. Doubtless, the online scene will continue to flourish considering the demand is high. Bettors like being able to place a bet on their favourite event or market when it’s convenient.

The online betting sector stands out much more so than the land-based one for this. Only two companies remain as independent brands in the UK. The others have fallen under the umbrella of a bigger brand for vast sums of money. It’s a very different outlook when you consider the scene 20 years ago, for example.

Capitalisation is a primary function in most countries, though. This is what the UK betting world has experienced. If a business takeover is possible for a great price, then why wouldn’t companies proceed? It’s only a natural outcome in these circumstances. You never know; perhaps new British bookmakers will open their doors in the future.

Do people like these changes and takeovers, though? It doesn’t seem like it’s much of an issue for punters. The companies like Ladbrokes, William Hill and so on remain in action. They’re just owned by big-name brands. Generally speaking, they still offer the same sports betting opportunities. It is actually the case that some incorporate extra options and features now. On the face of things, these companies still look and operate in the same way. Punters sign up, make a deposit and then have the chance to place bets. That’s what a sportsbook is all about.

Usually, there is very little concern for what happens behind the scenes. As long as players can continue on betting in the same way, then why should it matter? If things were to change in a dramatic way, then it could cause concern and backlash. That’s not likely to happen with so many sporting events taking place per year. It is through these events that bookies make their money.

What is likely is that more and more companies will go through acquisitions in the future. Not only British ones, but those based elsewhere around the world, too. The competitive nature of the industry means that it will remain in such a state. The likelihood is that nobody wants to see it shrink down to a single option being available, though. Time will tell on that front.