Billionaire Brothers Bet on William Hill Before Stock Surge

(Bloomberg) --

In 1966, a wager on England winning the soccer World Cup helped the Done family finance the first outlet of one of the world's largest closely held betting firms. This week, a side bet got them a cool $220 million.

That's what Betfred Group founders Fred and Peter Done, who are worth about $1.5 billion, are set to pocket from their investment in rival William Hill Plc. The company accepted a 2.9-billion-pound ($3.7 billion) bid from Caesars Entertainment Inc. on Wednesday, capping off a month in which William Hill's shares surged more than 50%.

Since March, the Done family has doubled its holdings in William Hill to 6%, via a company they control. The family first surfaced as significant William Hill shareholders in early 2020 and increased their stake on at least three occasions this year, filings show. One was disclosed on March 20, after markets tanked amid concerns over the coronavirus pandemic and sporting events -- the lifeblood of the gambling industry -- were canceled.

William Hill has rallied about 600% since then as the company continued its expansion into the U.S., where sports betting was legalized in 2018. It was also buoyed by takeover interest not only from Caesars Entertainment, but also from Apollo Global Management Inc.

A Betfred spokesman said Fred Done has purchased shares in William Hill for the past two years. He declined to comment further.

Caesars Entertainment's all-cash offer, which needs approval from William Hill shareholders, will also make winners out of brokerage Hargreaves Lansdown Plc and Silchester International Investors, the discrete firm set up by former Morgan Stanley banker Stephen Butt.

Fred, 77, and Peter, 73, grew up in a poor area of England. As children, the siblings helped their father run a betting business before high-street gambling outlets were legalized in the U.K.

After setting up their own firm in the 1960s, they helped to attract clients away from established betting companies including William Hill by offering large cash bonuses. Betfred now has more than 1,300 outlets across the U.K. and Ireland and launched its own U.S. sports betting exchange last year.

Betfred and the brothers' other investments have paid out dividends of more than 100 million pounds within the past five years, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Those holdings include an e-gaming business, a litigation-funding firm and business services company Peninsula, which Peter and Fred founded in 1983 to help small firms.

The Dones set up their own family office last year, joining a growing number of wealthy families establishing their own investment firms to manage their fortunes.

“I'm in many businesses now, but bookmaking is still my first love,” Fred Done said in an interview released by Betfred in 2017. “Fixing the odds -- I enjoy it.”

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