Although the William Hill brand is technically absorbed by Caesars and 888, Nevada and Florida still hold the William Hill name in Caesars’ US operations, and it is now threatened with a massive US$100,000 fine, following a regulatory complaint.
$100K Fine Over Four Counts
Nevada’s regulator – the Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) – is holding a meeting on Thursday, September 2022 – to consider whether a $100,000 fine will be sufficient in the face of a four-court 12-page complaint that the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) filed last month. The NGCB found strong evidence that the company has repeatedly failed to report duplicate wagers in a timely manner, which is three days in the case of Nevada’s regulation. The number of wagers cited in the official complaint document, which is available on NGCB and NGC’s website, was approximated to be around 42,000 of losing wagers and around 13,000 winning ones. The first and second counts pertain to the continued lack of awareness about the duplicate wagers on William Hill’s part, and their delayed or non-existent self-reporting to the regulatory body.
The third count concerns a horrendous case of a failing customer service department, which the Board was notified will be terminated at William Hill “due to staffing issues,” and this comes after the operator had “provided a written statement” detailing its efforts to improve its customer service back in November 2021.
The was preceded by a meeting between representatives of the regulator and William Hill just days before that, and the issue with the increasing number of complaints involving sports pools and race books was apparently one of the topics in that meeting. As a result of the “deficient customer service” at the operator’s end, all complaints were filed directly to the NGCB, posing an “unreasonable burden to the Board’s resources”, effectively resulting in “the Board filling the customer service role” for William Hill, which is obviously not in any way the Board’s role.
The final count pertains to a cash shortage at the William Hill Sportsbook inside the Red Garter Casino in West Wendover, Nevada. It was suspected that the money was stolen by an “employee working as a writer” and unlawfully wagered, but it more almost a full month until the regulatory body was informed of the incident, which is not compliant with timeframe requirements for such incidents, just as was the case with reporting duplicate wagers. A similar embezzlement situation has also occurred back in December 2021, according to the complaint document.
Difficulties Adjusting
In 2020, William Hill was acquired by Caesars Entertainment for about US$3.7 billion and in 2021, Caesars sold all non-US operations to 888 Holding for about US$2.35 billion, with most of the remainder of William Hill’s US operations rebranded to Caesars Sportsbooks, with the exception of Florida and Nevada. That’s why this is still the name being used in documents and everywhere else. While William Hill has eventually installed a “system patch” to fix the duplicate wagers problem, and measures were taken to address the alleged thefts, unconfirmed reports speculate it will most probably agree to the $100,000 fine.