William Hill: Money Out, Money In and NFL Future Odds Updates

William Hill took a big financial hit thanks to the global pandemic. Not only did the sports betting industry, in general, take significant losses from March to the end of June, William Hill decided that they would not be reopening 119 of their UK outlets. 

That said, they just got an influx of money with Caesars Entertainment (the owners of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas). The top Las Vegas brand already owned a 20 percent stake in William Hill, giving them exclusivity rights to operate under the Ceasar’s brand name. However, Late in September, William Hill accepted a 3.7 billion dollar takeover deal. 

William Hill said its directors would “unanimously and unconditionally” recommend that shareholders accept the deal.

The deal came about because Caesars became extremely interested in William Hill’s 170 retail sites that span across thirteen US states and the fact that it’s one of the best according to SBR, is not a surprise that Ceasars is interested in acquiring William Hill. Caesars plans to operate the US bookmaking business but will be looking for other owners to operate the international sites, which includes 1,400 brick and mortar betting outlets in the  United Kingdom. 

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NFL Futures & Picks

The AFC favorite according to SportsBookReview’s NFL picks section has the Baltimore Ravens still +900 to win the Super Bowl. Many shops have them as low as +700 and even down as far as +580. But William Hill online is still showing profitable odds of 9/1. 

It will be interesting to see how the Baltimore Ravens’ recent defeat at the hands of their division rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers will impact their Super Bowl odds. The Steelers have already moved ahead of the Ravens at many shops, now as low as +500. The current price at Will Hill on the Steelers to win it all is +550. The question is, will the Ravens odds fall further? 

At +900, Baltimore may be worth a punt to win Super Bowl LV. Meanwhile, at other top sites like 5Dimes, the Ravens are +650 and the Pittsburgh Steelers are +900. So, almost the exact inverse. That said, the Kansas City Chiefs are not much different from Will Hill to sites like 5Dimes. At 5Dimes, Kansas City is sitting at +400 while the Chiefs are +350 to win the Title over at William Hill. It’s a similar story for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are only separated by one bill. They sit at +650 at Will Hill and +750 at 5Dimes. Of course, a lot of this has to do with the amount of action that has gone towards each of these teams. But some of it has to do with the actual implied probability.

 So let’s look at the remaining strength of schedule.

When it comes to the AFC North, the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers are neck and neck with their remaining schedules at No. 26 and No. 25 respectively. Kansas City is right in the middle of the road at No. 17. But if we look at the SOS based on the current records of remaining opponents, the results change slightly. Baltimore moves from No. 26, which would be the 6th easiest remaining schedule in the league to the 9th easiest schedule. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, falls drastically from the 25th spot, or the 7th easiest schedule all the ways down to 18th easiest – moving 10 spots from No. 25 to No. 15 most difficult. Kansas City gets a little easier with the 14th easiest schedule, but it’s just one spot moved up towards the easy end of the league.

Other contenders like Tampa Bay who had the 13th easiest schedule are shown to actually have the 10th easiest schedule. And the Wild Card race should be wary of the Las Vegas Raiders, who at 4-3 and in second place in the AFC West, move from the third easiest schedule in the NFL to the No.1 easiest remaining calendar. The Raiders are currently +5000 on Will Hill’s betting boards. Oddly enough, they are a super-long +9000 at 5Dimes and +13000 at Matchbook.