The British bookmaker William Hill has very strong ties with various sporting associations, and quite rightly too. They make their money from sports-betting, but have a very strong online presence, not only in sports-betting, but for bingo, spread, betting, casino games and even online poker. Online gambling and sports-betting firms in particular have a long history of sponsoring sports teams, but this time William Hill has gone really big and is supporting an entire association – William Hill will become an "official supporter" of the national Scottish team, after signing a two year agreement with the Scottish Football Association.

William Hill’s Chief Marketing Officer – Kristof Fahy – says these are exciting times in football and they are extremely excited to be involved with the Scottish National team. The road to Rio is on, so, not only does the sponsorship agreement strengthen their ties with football in Scotland, they also get to jump aboard the Road to Rio bandwagon. The 2014 FIFA World Cup will be held in this World-class Brazilian city. The William Hill Scottish Cup is already sponsored by this firm, and they serve as the Scottish Premier League’s (SPL) official betting partner.

Obviously William Hill would love to see of the Scottish side go all the way to a place (if not the top) in the 2014 World Cup finals. But one thing it is going to be, is a fascinating journey.
Campbell Ogilvie, who is President of the Scottish Football Association is in turn delighted to have Will Hill as their official sponsor – heck they need all the help they can get – but the brand has already showed robust commitment to Scottish football, so this is not a new in-road for them. The online gambling company seriously are one of the biggest Scottish football supporters. This new sponsorship merely cements their position as such even more.

The agreement comes into force with immediate effect; in fact we expect they have had the new shirts made already! William Hill receives a whole host of sponsorship rights; these include; branding, hospitality, advertising, and exclusive content and imagery.

It is interesting to note that this British Bookmaker is also one of the sponsors of the English Football Association, but there is no conflict of interest. They have served as an official supporter of the England side and FA Cup in the past, and will continue to do so till the end of the FIFA World Cup in 2014.

After England’s dismal performance at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, let’s hope that the Scottish side can show them a thing or two this time. There was massive debate after England was sent home – about whether or not this team had become too spoiled by their mind-blowing earnings, and had somehow come to the conclusion that when they were playing for their country, they had the right to underperform. Let’s hope things have changed somewhat, and there will be a different performance in 2014.

Gaming software developer, Playtech, has just announced its acquisition of Ash Gaming. Playtech is already providing software solutions to a massive part of the online gaming industry and is one of the top suppliers of online gaming software. They have acquired Ash Gaming for a total of £23 million with the first £15.5 million being paid straight away and a further £7.5 million being paid over the next three years. The online gaming giant has been making acquisitions of online gaming companies throughout the industry and their latest deal takes the total to 11 acquisitions including 4 in 2011.

Playtech said that the acquisition "Enhances Playtech’s wholly-owned content library and value chain economics; complements Playtech’s technology leadership with additional premier content capability." The Playtech CEO Mor Weizer added that, "We see this as complementing our strategic actions by ensuring class leading content alongside our leadership in technology. Together this makes a powerful combination and by owning significant games content we will maximize both revenue and earnings across the value chain. In newly regulated markets both in Europe and other territories such as Canada, Ash Gaming’s content is set to gain considerable traction."

With Ash Gaming now a part of the Playtech empire it is expected that the online gaming firm will be able to increase the quality of the online gaming options that they provide to front end online casinos. Playtech is already well known for providing superior products to the online casino industry. Ash Gaming was founded in 2002 and specialises in innovation within the online gaming sphere.

This is good news for players at William Hill, which is powered by Playtech, as this means that their games are going to soon be seeing the innovations that Ash Gaming has become famous for. Players can expect to find that their favourite games are going to be even more fun to play in the near future.

William Hill Online has been crowned operator of the year at the 2011 eGaming Review operator awards – beating shortlisted nominees including Bet365, Betfair and 888 to win the coveted trophy.

Held at the Honourable Artillery Club (HAC) in London, the annual egaming operator awards was bigger than ever this year with more than 700 online gaming professionals joining host and comedian Rufus Hound to celebrate the industry’s achievements in last 12 months.

According to eGR’s independent panel of judges, William Hill Online deservedly took home the most prestigious award of the evening, with the panel describing the operator as "the turnaround story of 2011".

"William Hill Online has transformed its brand into a dynamic fresh faced online gaming brand and their momentum shows no sign of slowing down," they said.

Henry Birch, CEO of William Hill Online said "The eGR award for operator of the year recognises the huge strides we’ve made over the last 12 months. I want to thank everyone at William Hill Online for all their hard work over the year – it has been fantastic!"

William Hill Online 2011

Following an outstanding performance in 2010, William Hill Online has continued to deliver excellent results this year.

In 2011, William Hill added Italian, Irish and Canadian sites to their international portfolio. The new additions now mean Hills offer 26 different language/territory sites which are available to over 175 different countries across the globe.

In Spain, William Hill Online have expanded their product range and through clever marketing techniques they’ve managed to become one of the leading players in the very competitive sector.

Another new site which William Hill added to its product range is their new financial betting site Day Trader.

The Mobile betting division benefitted from a series of innovations, including an exclusive relationship as the betting partner for the Racing Post app (William Hill took its millionth bet on the App in June), Shake-A-Bet, Mobile Casino and their new mobile sports betting site.

In-play amounts staked grew 95% year-on-year fuelled by continuous product expansion. Recent examples include being the only bookmaker to offer point-by-point betting on every Wimbledon match and the launch of an expanded in-play basketball products.

William Hill Online’s extensive pre-match and in-play football offering means the bookie offer around 500,000 betting opportunities every week on the widest variety of markets in the industry.

To support their online products – William Hill signed exclusive betting arrangements with ESPN, SPL, Scottish Football, the Sun’s Dream Team, the Investec Derby, and Super League Rugby.

Gaming net revenue grew 15% in the first half of 2011 period including Casino net revenue grew 14%, benefitting from further enhancements in the flash-based product range. Underlying gaming net revenue grew 29%. Bingo and Poker also grew, up 25% and 11%, respectively.

Their new revamped Bingo site embarked on a massive promotional campaign in October when they gave away 31 cars in 31 days to prize draw winners.

Poker is continuing to run some of the best promotions on the poker planet, while William Hill Vegas, Skills and Live Casino have also enjoyed a strong 2011. Vegas was spurred on by new games including exclusive marvel comic games and the Madness (music band) games.

Photo Caption: William Hill CEO Henry Birch, second from the right, receiving the trophy for operator of the year at the 2011 eGaming Review operator awards at the Honourable Artillery Club (HAC) in London, 30th November 2011.

Two rivals release domains following 32Red court victory over William Hill Online.

AIM-listed online casino operator 32Red Plc has announced that two further operators of online casino websites have given up infringing domains and relinquished control of them.

This follows 32Red’s avowal that it would “continue taking steps to assert and protect its intellectual property rights” after its recent High Court victory against William Hill Online, which was operating a site called ’32Vegas’.

Now it’s been revealed that the owners of ’32Royal’ have transferred their web address to 32Red unconditionally, and that another gaming operator, Spin32, has changed the name of its business and transferred all domains containing the digits ’32’ to 32Red again without condition.

The strength of 32Red’s intellectual property rights were publicly and unequivocally confirmed in the case against William Hill Online. In a Judgment handed down in January by Mr Justice Henderson, after a six-day trial the previous October, the court upheld 32Red’s claim that 32Vegas, an online casino operated by William Hill Online under a joint venture between William Hill and Playtech, infringed 32Red’s European Community trade marks.

The judge also dismissed William Hill’s claims that the trade marks owned by 32Red (’32Red’ and ’32’) should be invalidated. He concluded that “the 32Red brand was highly distinctive”, and “enjoyed a strong reputation in the online gambling community”. Mr Justice Henderson added: “The goods and services covered by the Vegas signs were identical, and the degree of similarity between the signs and the Community marks was high, including in particular the initial ’32’… the detriment to the distinctive character of the Community marks lay in the risk of a false association with 32Vegas, a brand with an inferior reputation which operated in the same marketplace”.

Ed Ware, CEO of 32Red Plc said: “We are happy to have these two other infringing domains safely under our control. The protection of an online entity’s intellectual property rights are vital to the wellbeing of any internet business, and as an entirely online enterprise, with no physical presence in our markets, this makes our brand, our domain name and our reputation pivotal to the success of the business”.

“We have had the imagination to create a distinctive and appealing brand in 32Red, and have invested millions in advertising it over nearly 10 years. We will continue to take action to protect our property and rights where necessary.”

City of London-based solicitors McDermott, Will & Emery represented 32Red throughout the
action with William Hill Online and continue to act for the Company in the upcoming Damages Inquiry and the appeal against the decision lodged by William Hill Online.

McDermott partner Hiroshi Sheraton added: “An effective strategy for enforcing IP rights is essential in building a strong brand like 32Red, particularly in the online world, which is often seen as a ‘soft target’. Although the decision to take legal action to protect a brand is never one that’s easily taken, particularly against an industry stalwart such as William Hill, the findings of the judge speak for themselves. It is reassuring that others are now taking notice.”

32Red Plc (32Red), the award-winning online gaming operator, announces that the High Court of Justice of England & Wales (the Court) has today delivered its Judgment in the Company’s trade mark dispute against William Hill, the owners of 32Vegas online casino.

32Red is pleased to report that the Court ruled in favour of 32Red, holding that the use of 32 Vegas and 32V infringe 32Red’s European Community Registered Trade Marks.

The Court held that William Hill’s 32 Vegas casino signs were sufficiently similar to 32Reds marks to cause a likelihood of confusion amongst consumers.

The Court also held that William Hill’s infringement caused detriment to the distinctive character & repute of 32Red’s trade marks. The Court dismissed William Hill’s counterclaim as to the validity of 32Red’s trade mark rights in the UK & European Community.

This positive judgment follows nearly two years of proceedings against William Hill. In the near future the Court will make an order on the consequences of this result. Amongst other things, 32Red will ask for:

an injunction to prevent use of 32Vegas marks in the European Community repayment of its significant legal costs an inquiry to take place to assess the extent of damages or profits arising from the infringement.

It is not possible at this stage to quantify the positive financial impact that this significant victory will eventually have. The Board will continue to keep shareholders informed of any developments as & when they arise.

Ed Ware, CEO of 32Red said:

"We are naturally delighted that the High Court has upheld our claims. This judgment firmly establishes our Intellectual Property Rights & should deter other operators from infringing our trade marks.

As highlighted by the judge, we have an excellent reputation as an online casino operator and a strong brand – these are extremely valuable assets in any marketplace."

News source: 32red Wins Trade Mark Dispute In High Court