888 And Rank Group Consolidation Seems Inevitable

For the last few months, casino giants 888 (the folks behind 888 Ladies, obviously) and Rank Group (the people who have brought us Mecca Bingo) have been engaging in a long and very interesting game of “Will they, won’t they” when it comes to their consolidation. Nothing official has been announced or even hinted at, but just like the best friends in a sitcom who continuously share moment after moment of sexual tension despite claiming left and right that they’re just friends, us the audience just can’t wait for them to finally admit their feelings for each other and just get together already. Why am I talking about this, you ask? Well, the whole story began when 888 and Rank Group decided to join forces in a bid to purchase betting and casino giant William Hill, which would’ve been the merger to end all mergers, honestly. I mean, just think about the possibility of 888 Ladies, Mecca Bingo and William Hill all being part of the same family – if that thought doesn’t fill you with excitement, then you, my lady, have no soul to speak of!

Sadly, the merger turned out to be a no-go. On August 9th this year, 888 and Rank Group offered to purchase William Hill for an astounding £3.164 billion, which is more money than most of us will see throughout our lifetimes. Still, cash like this is apparently just pennies for big casino/gambling corporations, because that bid – which, keep in mind, came with an offer for William Hill shareholders to own 44.6% of the newly formed company – was struck down by William Hill pretty much immediately. Still, that rejection did very little to deter 888 and Rank Group, who countered with an even more generous offer. Only a fool would reject £3.425 billion and a 48.8% share in what will undoubtedly become one of the biggest gambling companies worldwide, and yet William Hill’s board of directors did just that, calling the offer “highly opportunistic”. Following the rejection of the second offer, the board released a statement claiming that it “continues to believe that a combination of William Hill with 888 and Rank will not enhance William Hill’s strategic positioning or deliver superior value for shareholders compared against William Hill’s strategy, which is focused on increasing the Group’s diversification by growing its digital and international businesses.”

888’s owner, Eval Shaked, tweeted that it was nothing short of pure ego which caused William Hill to reject an offer he believes to be more than generous, predicting that said ego would be William Hill’s downfall. So, apparently, William Hill has no desire to merge with anyone and prefers to just keep doing its own thing and grow at its own rate. But wait, you may be asking, this merger was supposed to involve three parties – if one of them is not interested, what about the other two? That’s the big question, dear reader! Right now, it’s up in the air whether Rank and 888 will decide to just cut off their third wheel and get together, but it seems highly likely. When asked if that was the plan, Rank CEO Henry Birch half-jokingly noted that he could “see [himself] having lunch with [888 CEO] Itai [Frieberger]” about this idea. So will they? Won’t they? Who knows! One thing’s for sure, though – we’re going to be watching these two very, very closely. And maybe squeal a few times once a consolidation is announced.