William Hill Signs Ground Breaking Betting Industry Deal With The Fa To Become An ‘official Supporter’ Of The England Team And ‘official Supporter’ And ‘official Betting Partner’ Of The Fa Cup

EUROPE’S LEADING GAMING AND BETTING GIANT EXPANDS ITS SPORTS SPONSORSHIP PORTFOLIO

The UK and Europe’s leading gaming and sports betting business, William Hill, has agreed a two and a half year deal with The Football Association to become an ‘Official Supporter’ of the England football team, and ‘Official Supporter’ and ‘Official Betting Partner’ of The FA Cup.
The deal with the FA, the first of its type for the betting industry, comes into effect on January 7, 2012* and continues through to the end of The FA and FIFA World Cups in 2014. The agreement features a wide and unique range of image rights, advertising and promotional opportunities.
Ralph Topping, Chief Executive of William Hill said “We have been looking for sponsorship opportunities from which we can reward and engage with our customers for the events they most enjoy. This deal with The FA will help us to achieve our objectives of developing the prominence of our brand and increasing market share in all our business channels.
“Our ‘Official Betting Partner’ status of The FA Cup complements our existing partnership with the Scottish Football Association and our sponsorship of the Scottish Cup with which we are already extremely delighted and it becomes a welcome addition to our quality range of sponsorships within **darts, snooker and racing.
“The next two and a half years are an exciting time for UK football and we’re delighted to now be part of all of those events.”
Kristof Fahy, Chief Marketing Officer for William Hill said “This is an excellent deal for both parties and it gives us some very good opportunities to develop our brand across a wide variety of channels. The England and FA Cup branding and imagery will enable William Hill (including via williamhill.com) to promote its services and products that we can offer to our Casino, Games, Sportsbook, Bingo and Poker customers. “
Henry Birch Chief Executive Officer of williamhill.com said “The deal with The FA is an excellent one for williamhill.com as it provides us with a strong platform for our brands and products both in the UK and internationally.”
Peter Daire, The FA’s Head of Sponsorship said “We are delighted to have William Hill on board. They have a strong track record in sports sponsorship and a considerable online and high street presence that will enable us to strengthen our communication platforms for England and The FA Cup. In return, William Hill will benefit from an association with two of the highest-profile football sponsorship properties in the world.”
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Writers note:
William Hill: William Hill is one of the UK’s leading betting and gaming companies and employs more than 15,000 people. Founded in 1934, it is the UK’s largest bookmaker by both revenue and number of licensed betting offices (LBO’s). The Group has over 2,350 LBO’s that provide betting opportunities on a wide range of sporting and non-sporting events and, in the UK, offer gaming machines. William Hill PLC is listed on the London Stock Exchange and generated net revenues of 1.07bn GBP in 2010.
williamhill.com: William Hill on line services were launched in 1998 and williamhill.com is currently the most profitable and successful online betting operation in the UK with over one million active online customer account holders. Our online business caters for all gambling and gaming customers, offering casino, poker, bingo, a range of skills games and sports betting.
In 2008 William Hill implemented two major developments to its online business: the launch of ‘Sportsbook’ with technology provider Orbis and a transformational deal with gaming software company ‘Playtech’ created our new online business William Hill online. This deal has made William Hill online one of the leading European online gaming and sports betting businesses.
William Hill offers the largest number of markets per match, on top-flight football. On top-flight football we offer over 180 concurrent markets on each individual match.
In 2011 William Hill offered betting on 30,705 matches, in 2012 it is aiming at 40,000 matches. With every single match offering 100 concurrent markets to bet on at kick off. This gives its customers 4 million reasons to be with William Hill. There are 100 in-play markets on every match across 575 different competitions.
*William Hill odds for the teams taking part in The FA Cup fourth round draw will be available after it has been concluded on Sunday January 8.
** William Hill recent major sponsorships include the following events in 2011.
The William Hill Grand Slam of Darts
The williamhill.com UK Snooker Championships
The William Hill King George VI at Kempton Park
The William Hill Greyhound Derby
Official betting partner for the Derby
The William Hill Ayr Gold Cup
The William Hill Scottish Cup (The sponsorship runs for three years from season 2011/12).

For further information please contact:
Richard Prescott, PR Director for William Hill 0208 918 3933/07715 808631
Graham Sharpe, Media Relations Director, 0208 918 3731/07803 233702
Tony Kenny, Head of International and Online 0208 918 3627/07714 138698
Joe Crilly, Press Officer 0208 918 3746/07850 518164

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