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.”