In an effort to beef up its overall regulatory compliance efforts, UK-based bookmaker Wiliam Hill is pulling out of 55 gaming markets.
The markets in questions, which are mainly located in Asian and African countries, are poorly regulated and are generally known as, “grey markets.”
In an e-mail to its affiliate partners obtained by EGR Magazine, William Hill officials said the move was because of, “regulatory reasons.”
EGR quoted an unnamed industry insider who said doing business in grey markets is a risky venture that a company like William Hill is better off avoiding entirely.
Besides, all 55 markets combined only account for a fraction of William Hill’s total business the source said:
All of these markets combined only account for a small percentage, maybe only 1%, of William Hill’s total revenues so the company probably thinks it’s not worth the risk
The impacted markets include:
Afghanistan
· Algeria
· Anguilla
· Bangladesh
· Belize
· Benin
· Botswana
· Burkina Faso
· Cambodia
· Cameroon
· Cape Verde Islands
· Central African Republic
· Chad
· Djibouti
· Equatorial Guinea
· Ethiopia
· Gabon
· Gambia
· Greenland
· Guinea
· Guinea-Bissau
· Haiti
· Laos
· Lesotho
· Liberia
· Madagascar
· Malawi
· Maldives
· Mali
· Mauritania
· Mongolia
· Montserrat
· Morocco
· Mozambique
· Nepal
· Netherland Antilles
· Niger
· Norfolk Island
· Rwanda
· Saint Vincent and The Grenadines
· Samoa
· Sao Tome and Principe
· Saudi Arabia
· Solomon Islands
· Somalia
· South Africa
· Surinam
· Swaziland
· Thailand
· Togo
· Tonga
· Uganda
· Uruguay
· Vanuatu
· Yemen