EGR Awards 2014 – Winners Review – William Hill wins operator of the year

The 10th annual eGaming Review operator awards took place at the Roundhouse in London on Monday evening.

William Hill enjoyed a very successful night as the bookmakers took home no less than four awards. This ensured theirs was the strongest performance of the night, though they were closely followed by Sky Betting & Gaming, who won the Mobile Operator, Mobile Sportsbook Product and Affiliate Programme trophies respectively.

William Hill’s victories were more varied across the board however, as they were first in the categories of Operator of the Year and Casino Operator of the Year. The latter award was earned due to the impressive growth of the firm’s in-house Vegas gaming product, and its performances on mobile channels.

The judges were also impressed by the firm’s multi-channel marketing during the World Cup, and they just edged Coral to the Marketing Campaign award. William Hill, who won Operator of the Year in 2011, will be delighted that their resurgence has been accredited.

Elsewhere the efforts of Paddy Power’s Patrick Kennedy, due to step down from his role as CEO next year, were recognised as he rightfully took home the Outstanding Contribution trophy. PokerStars won both Poker Operator of the Year and Mobile Poker Product, whilst Colossus Bets will be ecstatic that they were awarded the Rising Star award little over a year post-launch.

Oddschecker also capped off a tremendous evening with two awards, as the judges announced they’d won Affiliate of the Year and Sports Betting Affiliate. The continuing growth of social gaming has been well-documented, and Playtika are in prime position to take advantage as they were awarded both Social Casino and Social Operator of the Year awards.

 Full list of the 2014 eGR award winners

Operator of the year     

• William Hill

Mobile operator

• Sky Betting & Gaming
• Highly commended: BetVictor

Affiliate programme   

• Sky Betting & Gaming

Customer services operator

• Betsson Group
• Highly commended: tombola

Social bingo product

• Playtika

Socially responsible operator

• Paf
• Highly commended: tombola

Mobile casino product

• LeoVegas.com

Binary betting operator   

• 24option

Social casino product  

• High 5 Games

Gaming affiliate

• Kax Media – Gambling.com

Poker operator   

• PokerStars

Mobile bingo product

• mFortune Casino
• Highly commended: tombola

Spread betting product  

• Sporting Index

In-play sports operator

• bet365
• Highly commended: William Hill

Bingo operator

• tombola
• Highly commended: GalaBingo.com

Rising star  

• Colossus Bets

Sports affiliate

• Oddschecker

Marketing campaign   

• William Hill
• Highly commended: Coral

Slots operator

• William Hill
• Highly commended: Mr Green

Affiliate of the year   

• Oddschecker

Mobile poker product

• PokerStars

Social operator  

• Playtika

Mobile sports product

• Sky Bet
• Highly commended: bet365

Casino operator  

• William Hill
• Highly commended: Paddy Power

Sports betting operator      

• bet365
• Highly commended: Unibet

Outstanding contribution

• Patrick Kennedy, Paddy Power