Top Australian online sports betting brands Tom Waterhouse, Centrebet and Sportingbet will soon be a distant memory for punters as they are set to be rebranded by their parent company William Hill.
Sportingbet will be the first to take on the 80-year-old brand name that is William Hill. The change is expected to be made before the Autumn Racing Carnival and the start of the Rugby League and AFL seasons.
Later in the year Centrebet will be changed and eventually Tom Waterhouse in early 2016.
Former chief executive Ralph Topping believed it would be more beneficial if the British brand name was to be used.
“You’ve got confusion of brands and you have to look for a unifying brand,” Topping explained. “They’re all strong brands, but I believe the strongest brand of the lot is potentially William Hill.”
William Hill is arguably Britain’s biggest wagering operator and in March 2013 they expanded into the Australian market by purchasing TomWaterhouse.com.au and Sportingbet (which owned Centrebet) for $700 million.
Since the takeover, Mr Waterhouse was appointed as William Hill Australian chief executive and is involved in the elimination of his former company’s brand name.
“There’s been a whole bunch of things to get right before we could say now is the time to hit the go button,” Waterhouse said. “To be at that stage and to be going down the path of being able to launch the brand here is terrific, it’s really exciting.”
William Hill is continuing to break into the Australian market by increasing its marketing budget to $10 million to build the awareness of its brand.
The rebranding will result in a $205 million write down of William Hill’s intangible brand assets, however the company believes they will be more powerful and can strive for greater Australian investments under the one brand name.
William Hill also revealed an 11 per cent increase in full year profit to $683 million for the group.
Mr Waterhouse expects William Hill to continue its development in the Australian market.
“They’ve [William Hill] come into Australia, put the house in the order. With that in place we expect to grow significantly.”
This will no doubt put pressure on Australia’s other wagering brands - Tabcorp, Tatts Group, BetEasy and Ladbrokes.
