While we’re waiting for that magical day, Hills has just made rival online gambling operator 32Red instant millionaires thanks to the long-running trademark dispute between the two companies. In 2009, Gibraltar-licensed 32Red sued over Hills’ 32Vegas online casino – a property Hills inherited from Playtech as part of the William Hill Online joint venture deal – which 32Red said infringed on its trademarks. That case was finally resolved in April when the UK High Court awarded 32Red £150k in damages and an inquiry was then tasked with determining how much Hills owed 32Red for court costs. That inquiry has now settled on a figure of £1.1m (plus interest), of which Hills has already made an interim payment of £800k.
In more positive news for Hills, the bookies are planning to launch online poker on their Italian-facing site next week. The Playtech-powered offering will share liquidity with Playtech’s iPoker, the largest Italian-facing network with roughly 16% of the market. (That said, Q1 stats from Italian regulator AAMS show PokerStars.it controls 38.3% of cash games and 51.3% of tournament play in the ring-fenced market.) Hills’ online casino captured a 7% share of the Italian market in Q1, while its sportsbook share was 3.65%.