Bookmaker William Hill has confirmed it plans to maintain its online betting base in Gibraltar despite new tax laws that are expected to cost the firm tens of millions of pounds.
The company is one of a number of bookmakers that have set up online operations in Gibraltar in order to sign British gamblers while benefiting from lower taxes.
However, Great Britain is set to introduce a new 15% duty on bookmakers’ online winnings from British customers from December 2014 in a move that could bring in an additional £300 million (€359.2 million/$491.4 million) each year.
Speculation has arisen that William Hill would close its Gibraltar office after it recently opened a new office in London’s Tech City where a number of start-up online companies are based.
Despite this, William Hill said it has no intention of closing the Gibraltar office and the opening of its new London office does not mean the end to its operations on the island.
“We have over 400 people in Gibraltar, we run our global operations from there,” William Hill Online’s managing director, Andy Lee, said. “Our staff are very happy there and there are reasons why we will remain there in order to be competitive in this market.”
Meanwhile, William Hill has followed online gaming company bwin.party in highlighting next year’s Fifa World Cup in Brazil as a key period for bookmakers in 2014.
William Hill said that it is currently developing its various products in advance of the tournament in order to offer the best possible service to customers.
The bookmaker is also an official sponsor of the England national football team and will benefit from access to players for various video clips during the tournament.
