Caesars Closes Deal With William Hill; DraftKings Expands With SlingTV As Sports Betting Grows

Caesars Entertainment announced Thursday that it had completed its acquisition of William Hill for approximately $4 billion.

The deal allows the Caesars brand to significantly boost its footprint in the United States. The combined company will now have mobile betting in 13 states, more than any other sportsbook brand.

Last summer, Eldorado Resorts merged with Caesars in a $8.5 billion deal to create the largest gaming and casino company in America.

Caesars and William Hill are both name brands in the space, but are challenged by the newer companies, DraftKings and FanDuel, that built their consumer database through daily fantasy.

Caesars has a market cap of $19.6 billion compared to DraftKings, which is worth $23.5 billion.

DraftKings had news of its own to announce on Thursday, as it struck a deal with SlingTV to launch an exclusive sports betting channel.

The deal will start with the launch of a DraftKings Basketball channel where viewers can get real-time scores and betting odds. In the coming weeks, the streaming service plans to launch a channel for baseball as well as hockey.