It seems slowing economic activity has adversely affected one of the UK’s most famous gambling giants.

Online and offline gambling company William Hill, is selling its share of the Italian sports betting business forcing many to ask the question, is the credit crunch going to hit the gambling sector as badly as it has the retail one?

After just 18 months in the Italy's betting and gambling market, William Hill has agreed to sell its joint venture with Spanish gaming firm Cordere to Turkish rival Intralot for €5.5 million.

The British bookmaker will also write off  £1 million as it exits the Italian betting market. According to reports, William Hill remains committed to its joint venture in Spain with Cordere, which trades as Victoria.

 The move is sure to displease investors though as it comes just six months after William Hill was forced to write off £26 million as it abandoned an in-house betting software development program.

The bookmaker also said that is planning to overhaul William Hill's underperforming online poker operation, which has struggled to increase player numbers though rival British companies seem to have no such trouble at present.

The gambling software provider for Will Hill is CryptoLogic, but an exclusive deal between the two comes up for renewal at the end of the year.

 The U.K. bookmaker is considering switching to one of a handful of poker network providers that are increasingly dominating the industry, offering hundreds of millions of dollars in prize money every month.

The Italian offload is sure to send a minor tremor throughout the gambling world but for the time being confidence remains in the sector.

Historical analysis indicates that even in times of economic restraint gambling remains vibrant bucking the trends seen in almost all other business sectors.

Print version