William Hill hires new director of bookmaking

Reno-based Club Cal-Neva had 27 sports books statewide, including Binion's and Four Queens in downtown Las Vegas and the Eureka casino in Mesquite. American Wagering operated Leroy's race and sports books; Brandywine Bookmaking owned the Leroy's sports book chain.

The British bookmaker spent us$ 55 million in April 2011 to acquire the three companies. William Hill operates 159 locations in Nevada, including 83 wagering kiosks. "This is evidence of a long-term perspective that William Hill is taking," said Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill U.S. "Having three senior guys who are incredibly talented only makes sense if you are taking a long-term view."

Along with Bogdanovich, the staff with include former American Wagering bookmaker Bob Davis, and Tony DiTommaso, who held the same position at Brandywine Bookmaking. DiTommaso was named deputy director of trading, and Davis was named senior trader in Las Vegas. "William Hill is going to be here long after I'm dead and I hope to live a long time," Asher said. "We have built the best bookmaking team ever assembled in Nevada."

William Hill is scheduled to release interim results for the first half of 2012 on Friday. The London-based company posted an operating profit of us$ 432.9 million last year on us$ 1.79 billion in revenue.

Interim results posted for the first-quarter of 2012 included a 19 percent increase in operating profit and a 12 percent increase in revenue. Both increases were driven by margin performance in retail and growth from William Hill Online.