William Hill Q1 Profits Hit Hard By POCT

The UK’s new point of consumption tax (POTC) on sports wagers took a big toll on William Hill’s Q1 2015 earnings.
According to reports on CalvinAyre.com and Nasdaq.com, the UK bookmaker had an operating revenue of just 1% since the POTC went into effect. That’s down a whopping 19% from the same time last year.
That 1% comes despite a 9% surge in online revenues from the bookmaking giant.
Unfortunately for William Hill, the POTC wasn’t the only factor dragging down William Hill’s numbers.
On the retail side, the company’s OTC wagering outlets took a dive as well. Earnings from that side of the business were down 2% in the UK and 11% in Australia. (Overall, Australian revenue was down 39%.)
Finally, William Hill took a major beating on some high profile football matches, which resulted in a £14 million loss early in the quarter.
Not surprisingly, this load of bad news took a toll on the company’s stock prices. William Hill shares were trading at 361.2 p on Wednesday. That’s down 3% from the previous day.
Despite the rough news, things aren’t as bad at William Hill as a single earnings report might indicate. For example, the company’s mobile traffic is up 48% over the previous year and that looks to continue trending positive.
William Hill also has also inked a number of high profile sponsorship deals that will put it front and center during a number of big UK sporting events.