William Hill owner 888 has revealed a drop in yearly sales amid a clampdown on safe gambling in the UK, and said its profit is likely to be affected by increased spending on artificial intelligence (AI) and automation.
The gambling giant also said it was targeting some £30 million in savings, which includes closing its office in Bulgaria and making redundancies overseas.
The firm revealed an 8% decline in total sales over 2023, to £1.71 billion [$2.17 billion] from £1.85 billion [$2.35 billion] generated the previous year.
The fall was driven by the group moving away from “dotcom markets”, which refers to places where 888 runs its website but does not do any marketing, which it said led to an £80 million [$101 million] hit to revenues during the year.
