William Hill May Rebrand To Caesars In Illinois, But Will The Name Change Make A Difference?

Caesars Entertainment & rsquo is hoping to make significant progress in the US sports betting market now that its$ 3.7 billion acquisition of William Hill is complete.

Caesars will likely rebrand William Hill retail sportsbooks and apps in certain states to Caesars Sports by football betting season. Though at the moment, we don’t know whether or not Illinois is one of those states.

The same goes for the retail sportsbooks such as Grand Victoria Casino Elgin, which currently has William Hill branding.

KateWhiteley, a spokeswoman for Caesars, told the girl website PlayIA.com:

& ldquo, Depending on the state, both our mobile app and the majority of casinos will rebrand to represent their affiliation with Caesars Entertainment, but the William Hill brand will remain present in both. & rdquo,

Caesars intends to combine the two applications using William Hill & rsquo’s Liberty single-wallet platform. In this situation, we might observe a composite branding strategy. Consider William Hill as being powered by Caesars Sports, & rdquo, or a similar phrase.

William Hill Sportsbook is currently not a significant person in Illinois.

It has finished last in sports betting handle among all Illinois sportsbooks in every month is has been live. William Hill cracked $10 million in monthly handle for the first time in February, while the market leaders are hovering around $200 million.

With that said, it’s likely that Illinois activities punters haven’t seen many William Hill commercials.

However, the game tycoon has vowed to alter that immediately.

Caesars will forcefully invest in marketing

Caesars CEO Tom Reeg said during the Q1 earnings call this week that the company has been “fighting with an arm behind its back” while waiting for the William Hill deal to finalize.

We may anticipate seeing Caesars become much more intense in acquiring sports betting customers now that it has. Reeg remarked:

& ldquo, William Hill, who had a UK family and UK investment thinking, was less aggressive in this company and more conventional when it came to leverage.

Caesars will substantially increase its investment in US sports gaming, he continued.

Reeg is likewise upbeat that rising spending may lead to rising market share:

& ldquo, At this time, there is a strong correlation between spending and market share. And for company or another non-spend categories, there isn’t quite as many correlation. When I talk about the cash flow that we & rsquo is currently regenerating, it’s a good sign for us. & rdquo,

Reeg suggested that Caesars follow BetMGM‘s example.

BetMGM Sportsbook in Illinoisisn & rsquo, the second-largest online sportsbook in Michigan, has gotten off to a good start despite not yet being live. In contrast to DraftKings or FanDuel, MGM and Caesars are similar in that they are well-known casino companies.

However, a Michigan BetMGM type is probably more reasonable in states that have not yet launched than one like Illinois.

Why Illinois is challenging for William Hill and Caesars

There & rsquo, in-person registration is the most obvious reason why Illinois may still prove to be a challenging market for Caesars.

The only method to sign up for William Hill in Illinois is to visit the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin. And based on its lack of market share in the state (2% in February, its best month ever), there doesn’t appear to be an immediate path to acquiring more users and growing said share.

It’s possible that a good chunk of people have downloaded the William Hill app, but simply aren’t using it as much as other sports betting apps in Illinois. That’s the best-case scenario.

However, it’s more likely that some Illinoisans downloaded William Hill because it didn’t provide the kind of nice sign-up promotions that its rivals did at the time.

What’s Caesars’ great information? It’s not a crowded marketplace in Illinois.

In the Land of Lincoln, there are currently just six online casinos. That & rsquo, is significantly fewer than other reliable markets. Therefore, there is theoretically business share available.

Of course, it all comes back to in-person membership. It’s difficult to imagine this having much of an impact on Caesars & rsquo, Illinois business as long as it exists.

Though if online registration returns, there is certainly room for a Caesars sportsbook to grow in the Prairie State.