William Hill Execs Locked Out of Their Own Office: Implosion Within, Shares Fall

The riff between William Hill and its Tel Aviv-based online support and affiliate center, Affiliates United, continued through the weekend following a mass employee walkout last Sunday.  Fewer than 20 employees reported back to work. 

The Affiliates United employees were told by a former manager of the support center that they would be relocating to William Hill’s Gibraltar base.

But more information was coming to light Sunday as the Globes Israeli Business Arena has learned that William Hill online COO Jim Mullen demanded access to Affiliates United computer then was subsequently locked out of the Tel Aviv office.

The situation has also caused a riff between William Hill and its software provider, Playtech.  William Hill and Playtech both own shares in the Tel Aviv joint venture, though Hill’s is a 71 percent controlling interest. 

From the Globes Israeli Business Arena: 

The "Daily Telegraph" reports that when Mullen arrived at the Tel Aviv offices, he was locked out and the e-mail and telephone systems were taken down. He and Birch were directed to a local beach. The paper quotes a source as alleging that Sanoff had earlier told Mullen that he was only at William Hill Online to protect (Playtech head) Teddy Sagi's interests. The paper also quotes Topping as saying, "If there's one guy who could put an end to this with one phone call, it's Teddy Sagi."

Both William Hill and Playtech’s share prices have been adversely affected by the situation in Tel Aviv.

Affiliates of William Hill are now concerned that they may become the victims of this latest crisis, especially if William Hill is not granted the ability to manage stats in the event data in the Tel Aviv office is either lost, erased or somehow otherwise manipulated. 

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com