The mobile secret to William Hill's success
Mobile is quietly taking over from desktop as the most important channel at the UK’s biggest online gambling firm
William Hill’s recent annual results last week clearly showed how vital a comprehensive mobile offering is for growth in the current online gambling market.
The firm posted record digital results with an online operating profit up 20% to £177.7m from revenues of £527.4m, and the key factor in that growth was the strength of its mobile portfolio.
One fact that illustrates this is during 2014 desktop staking grew 11% and mobile staking grew 55%, which is perhaps unsurprising bearing in mind the soaring popularity of mobile sports betting in its core UK market.
“Mobile Sportsbook revenues continued to grow strongly, up 48%, and now represent 56% of total Sportsbook revenues,” William Hill said in a statement.
But unlike previous years, mobile gaming was a major part of the growth story as the sector finally starts to gain traction in an area that has been slow to adapt to the touch platforms.
Gaining in gaming
William Hill reported mobile gaming revenues increased by 117% and represented 32% of total gaming revenues for the period, closing in on the firm’s target of 40% by mid-2015.
But once again it’s the comparison to the traditional platforms that is most interesting, with desktop gaming revenues for the year falling by 3%.
This represents a huge wake-up call for the UK market where many firms are still focused on the desktop for their gaming offering with mobile and tablet considered to be important add-ons rather than the core revenue driver.
William Hill, however, is showing a clear market shift is starting to take place with not just gaming acquisitions coming through mobile but most of the growth too.
The firm has invested heavily in its mobile product suite with a number of in-house developed games as well as a fully responsive front-end across its various web offerings.
And it is starting to reap the results with £87.7m in mobile gaming revenues in 2014 and some considerable upside for the upcoming 12 months.
It’s also seeing product investment and innovation helping to increase the bottom line on its mobile sportsbook with mobile gross win margins “continuing to outpace desktop margins” during the year at 9.0% versus 6.2%.
The firm’s CEO James Henderson stated it would look to product development to continue gaining market share in the UK and beyond during the year and mobile will be at the heart of that strategy.
The question for the rest of the sector is can it afford to let William Hill gain too much of a lead in mobile gaming as there is little doubt this is where the big battles will be fought during the rest of the year and beyond.