Tom Waterhouse sells to William Hill Controversial bookmaker Tom Waterhouse has sold his online business to UK bookmaker William Hill for far less than initially expected, in a deal that could lead to the end of the tomwaterhouse.com brand name. William Hill, which acquired Sportingbet Australia this year for $660 million, said it was paying $34 million for the betting firm, with the assumption of up to $6 million of balance sheet liabilities. International expansion is a key part of William Hill's growth strategy and making Australia our second home is our priority The betting agency said that a potential additional earn-out of up to $70 million could also be payable, subject to the performance of the business until end-2015, taking the value of the deal up to $110 million. Sold: Tom Waterhouse's online betting business. The sale comes after a lengthy process. Originally, Mr Waterhouse was seeking to sell a 50 per cent stake in the business for as much as $100 million, according to media reports. William Hill chief executive Ralph Topping said in a statement that the Waterhouse deal would help cement Australia as the company's "second home." We are delighted to have secured this acquisition. International expansion is a key part of William Hill's growth strategy and making Australia our second home is our priority," Mr Topping said. I'm impressed by Tom Waterhouse and his team, who are passionate and entrepreneurial. They've built a good business in a short period of time and have achieved strong growth momentum. Mr Waterhouse will remain as the managing director of tomwaterhouse.com and will also join William Hill Australia's management team. He said in a statement that he was excited to become part of the William Hill family and had been looking for the "right strategic partner for some time." "I particularly like that they bring the knowledge and support but that they trust the local management to carry out the plan," Mr Waterhouse said. Will the brand name stay? William Hill now controls three betting houses in Australia - tomwaterhouse.com, Sportingbet and Centrebet. with the Australian businesses accounting for less than 10 per cent of the UK firm's turnover. Mr Topping said in a media briefing this morning that the bookmaker was looking at its brand strategy, and did not rule out the loss of the three local names in favour of the William Hill brand. "We have a strategic board meeting taking place in September, and out of that board meeting I anticipate some decisions being made and a timetable produced internally to give some clear directional travel on brand," he said. Mr Waterhouse has been at the centre of controversy over sports betting television advertising. His firm has shelled out millions of dollars to grab market share from larger and mostly foreign-owned rivals. Mr Waterhouse reportedly paid $50 million to become the official NRL partner over the next five years, but walked away from the deal earlier this year following the backlash over his appearances on Channel Nine's NRL coverage. His business, however, was not yet thought to be profitable given the scale of money spent on advertising. Mr Waterhouse denied that the furore surrounding his Channel Nine appearances pushed him to sell his business to William Hill, saying that they had been talking to the sports betting giant "well before that time." Analysts at JPMorgan Cazenove estimate the Tom Waterhouse business has a 5 per cent share of the Australian online sportsbetting market. "We believe that the two customer lists would be complementary, and see significant scope for cost-cutting (particularly on marketing spend) if WMH [William Hill] were to acquire Tom Waterhouse," they wrote in a note. Tabcorp chief executive David Attenborough said the purchase of Tom Waterhouse's online business by William Hill was evidence of further consolidation of the gaming market in Australia, but would not effect the way Tabcorp competes online. ""We have extremely strong brands and are a market leader,"" he said during a briefing of Tabcorp's full-year results. ""We're down almost to four really big operators now in the corporate market that we compete with - and that's good. Responsible operators that follow the national codes is good for the country."" with Georgia Wilkins