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The CEO has been making some tough decisions in this restructure.

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FTSE-250 bookmaker could shed 57 jobs but consults on possible staff relocation to Polish office

William Hill has revealed it will close its Stockholm office by the end of 2020, with a potential for job losses, the bookmaker has confirmed. It is understood the decision is a result of a shift in strategy towards increased efficiency in the group's product development teams.

https://egr.global/intel/news/william-hill-to-close-swedish-office/

Yeah the Big Dipper has some big things ahead for us

I never considered the California deal to be anything but a bit of icing on the cake for this stock, it wasn't a major catalyst for me that I was investing for. From what little I know about California politics, it was pretty hard to predict how that was going to pan out. There is even an argument that California would have detracted from Vegas where wmh dominates.

It's all about macro now - this will depend on the covid news flow and sentiment from here on. I am positive, I would be buying now but I already have a large enough position that I am ok with.

I still think we see over 200p this year based on vaccine euphoria.

Markets have no idea how to price this stock at the moment, that is clear. I haven't looked at the short interest but heavy shorting may have played a part, keep in mind they need to cover eventually

Always like reading your posts CJ. We are in a fear phase now, simple as that. My thesis hasn't changed, not have my price targets. We need to keep an eye on the vaccine news flow. Remember that the resources being thrown at this are unprecedented, vaccine production is starting in advance of approval. If the market gets a sniff of a breakthrough, things will change very quickly.

Having said that, 15% of vaccines are a success in trials. Good thing there are 100+ in development.

Here is the best summary article of the live vaccines I have seen yet from 2 days ago:
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4356359-coronavirus-vaccine-update-june-29

Laint, my assumption here is professional sports here do not get cancelled again, it's one of my red lines. My reasoning for this is that these professional clubs easily have enough resources to roll out a testing programme to ensure that anyone who catches the virus is identified through testing and quarantined.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/coronavirus-vaccine-news-update-trials-covid-19-uk/

We will have news on the Oxford and sinovac vaccines in the coming months from phase 3 trials. Best case scenario is the Oxford vaccine works. According to the article the UK government will have 30m doses ready by September. There has been speculation the Oxford vaccine won't work, the trial needs to happen first.

If it does work, the UK could be the first country on earth to get vaccinated and we can move on to the new normal, whatever that is.

Yep, greed and fear rule this market. Fear seems to be winning at the moment

That departure of the retail MD (if true) really makes me wonder what the future is for retail and whether it is about to be sold

Here is a quote from Howard J Klein, former US casino executive and market commentator. Pretty much sums up my thoughts more eloquently than I can. He's taking about the Caesars / el Dorado merger but it is relevant to wmh as well.

"The current environment is a fun house mirror, nothing but distortions so how can you invest in a picture you can't see? You should not be in this stock from that perspective. Direct from my cousin the epidemiologist: A vaccine is 100% certain to arrive, just when is all guesswork, but probably sooner than most now think. The idea is this: as it nears, the fun house mirror will begin to adjust into a truer reflection. Even if revenues are making a slow, stumbling recovery as I suspect may be the case, the trajectory is beyond challenge. Mr Market will start seeing the other side of the mountain, rush in and lo your patience rewarded. Right now its trench warfare al a WW1 you don't want to traverse no man's land mined, gassed and bombed to smithereens. But if you can see past the smoke and fire and sit tight, locked and loaded, there is a ton money that will be made on this stock"

Quote source:
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4355890-caesars-eldorado-deal-galloping-home-stretch-see-winner-in-making-post-covidminus-19?source=content_type:react|first_level_url:home|section:articles_youve_read|line:5

Things I am confident about:
- big move related to July phase 3 vaccine trials
- UK government stimulus in autumn will lift the market, it always does. The stimulus will happen, just a question of when
- sport does not close
- no material debt issues for wmh
- shops do not re close

The things I am not sure on:
- gov approach to regulation in UK. Keep in mind the £2 fbt limits took years to come in, will take some time if it happens
- covid '2nd wave' in general
- effect of end of furlough
- the USA macro picture in general due to covid

The biggest question mark is the August trading update for wmh, which I believe trumps everything for wmh

The market was pretty confident in giving wmh 240m in 3 hours at around 128. Im not selling, this trend can change very quickly.

Good post cj. Short term I have no idea what happens, medium and long term will be fine.

If August stimulus is announced by the government, stocks go up, simple as that.

alto1, the market has been overpriced and detached from reality since central bank intervention in 2009. The UK and especially US markets are on a liquidity cycle now, the business cycle is dead and the market has been trained to follow the central banks and fiscal stimulus.

For example: FTSE 250 rally peaks on June 5 @ 18229.

This is almost exactly that same time that the chancellor announced delay of the stimulus programme:
June 6 - "UK's Sunak to delay major stimulus package until autumn: FT - Reuters"

Value has been destroyed I agree. Does this mean stocks and other assets go down? Maybe, but I can see this rallying into the wall of worry. The root of the problem isn't just covid, it is that the central banks have meddled with market pricing so much it's hard to price things any more. What is a reasonable multiple on earnings in a zero interest rate environment?

CJ, agreed things have gone well - much better than expected during the pandemic financially. HMRC payout up to 203m, capital raising that was fully subscribed in 3 hrs (!), furlough of UK staff (read - government bailout), sports resuming and not probably going away. Like FB says this retail store network is causing wmh to be priced by the market as a digital / retail hybrid. When the virus flares this will get hit partly like retail but during a covid recovery it will outperform. It looks like right now the price of wmh (and the broader market) is all about covid news flow

I assume the el Dorado / Caesars deal goes through and I was expecting regulatory approval in July. They seem to be saying in that article that the deal closes in 3 months. I've read elsewhere that wmh's speak deal with el Dorado extends to Caesars. Keep in mind el Dorado items 20% of wmh USA, I just can't see a scenario where wmh doesn't run their sportsbetting. These us casinos often get a primary and secondary app skin provider. My understanding is that wmh will also have primary skin in all Caesars properties.

888 is exclusively online and only takes a small percentage of revenue from sport, mostly casino revenue. Sport shutting down isn't a big deal for them, no shops to close.

GVC and Flutter are larger than wmh, flutter especially. The are considered to better at online at the present time.

Wmh is still reliant on retail shops for a proportion of revenue. Sports is a large proportion of revenue. Us casinos need to be open for WMH USA to function properly. The apparent flare up on covid may have more impact on them because of the risk that the stores / casinos close again. I do not think this happens, this will pass.

My red line on this stock is anything about sports not being able to resume. I can't see any reason why sports can't resume safely (without crowds) using testing and common sense. My second red line is the vaccine being 'impossible' for a Corona virus. My other concern is the general economy post furlough and job losses that furlough has concealed but I think this is the reason you can buy WMH with a far healthier balance sheet at 40% off highs. It is around 70% upside to 52 week high which I still believe gets taken out this year, nothing has changed for me

Madfist - close your eyes and imagine the newspaper headlines in six months. When I do this I see headlines about vaccines in production. I see professional sport continuing but some places still doing fire-fighting lockdowns.

I am not concerned at the moment at all and this hasn't changed my thesis on this stock. There was never a plan to eradicate covid via lockdowns, the intent was to flatten the curve, which is happening in most of the USA.