Gaming machines boost William Hill sales William Hill on Friday underlined the importance of controversial gaming machines to its sales, reporting a 3 per cent rise in underlying net revenues from its shop terminals in its fourth quarter. The betting terminals, which account for £1.5bn a year of revenues to the industry, are the subject of scrutiny from politicians of all parties because of concerns about potential addiction among customers. The government is awaiting research on the possible effects of fixed-odds betting terminals - which can take bets of £300 a minute - on customer behaviour. In the meantime it is demanding that bookmakers implement harm-reduction measures. William Hill said it would continue working with the government and the Gambling Commission to look at further measures, such as advertising the importance of responsible play. But it added: "We believe that a harm reduction strategy should be informed by facts, academic research and a proper economic impact assessment." Shares were down 2 per cent to 365p in lunchtime trading. Last year William Hill generated £920 in gross win per machine per week. A new machine, called Eclipse, is being rolled out across the group's shops, but the group declined to say how it was performing compared to its predecessor. On Thursday rival Ladbrokes said the upgrade of its gaming machines would be completed ahead of the start of the world cup in Brazil. Ralph Topping, William Hill chief executive, revealed the group lost around £13m last weekend, mainly on accumulator bets, after the top seven Premier League football clubs all won - one of the worst ever series of results for bookmakers. But the upside, he said, was that 50,000 customers won at least £50, giving them increased confidence to bet again. The size of the loss was an indication of how much William Hill had "lapped up" market share, Mr Topping said. The online sportsbook continued to perform strongly, with amounts wagered up 38 per cent on the 2012 fourth quarter. The first two weeks of 2014 had seen a 48 per cent increase in wagering. Gross win margin from the online sportsbook improved from 6.3 per cent in the third quarter to 8.1 per cent, giving a 30 per cent increase in net revenue. The full-year estimate for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is £334m, up on consensus. James Hollins of Investec said that while the issue of tighter regulation on machines may weigh on the shares, the group was driving exceptional online growth and "building on its UK market share leadership."