William Hill to outsource telephone operations

London-based online and land-based gaming giant William Hill has announced plans that will see its loss-making William Hill Credit Limited telephone betting subsidiary outsource its UK operations to Vertex Data Science Limited.

William Hill Credit Limited employs approximately 400 people at call centres in Sheffield and Leeds and the deal will see Liverpool-based Vertex take over the South Yorkshire operation during the fourth quarter while the West Yorkshire business is to be shut with staff being offered ‘alternative positions’.

At the same time, the gaming firm’s William Hill Online division will establish a new telephone betting operation in Gibraltar tasked with helping to manage UK customers.

William Hill stated that the deal would benefit customers by offering them an ‘improved service’ including the ability to use their telephone betting account for online transactions while saving it an estimated four to seven million pounds a year from 2011.

“This significant change to our telephone business is a response to the challenges of competing with betting exchanges and offshore tele-betting operators, all of whom have benefitted from significant cost and tax advantages over UK bookmakers,” said Ralph Topping, Chief Executive Officer for William Hill.

“This has made it impossible for our existing business to compete profitably from the UK.”

William Hill stated that it would continue to have a ‘substantial presence’ in the UK and Republic Of Ireland with more than 2,300 licensed betting offices and around 16,000 employees. The firm revealed that it paid £265 million in UK taxes and levies in last year while the overall cost to implement its latest plan is expected to be approximately seven million pounds with around 70 percent of this incurred as an exceptional item.