William Hill know a thing or two about calculating odds, having been in the betting business since 1934. Earlier this year they took a calculated gamble on EMMA AI. This was in the hope that it would help them with their green strategy and ultimately save them significantly on their energy bills.
The team at William Hill initially agreed to a 3-month rollout across a small percentage of their shops. Almost immediately, however, they began to see savings that were significantly higher than projected. This led to an increase in the rollout across their entire estate, with 12-month savings across all their shops projected to exceed £1 million.
The Challenge of Managing Multiple Small Properties
Running a single betting shop is one thing—managing hundreds across the country is something else entirely. William Hill’s estate is made up of numerous small properties, each with its own heating, lighting, and energy requirements. While a large office building might have dedicated energy managers and sophisticated building management systems, smaller retail units often lack that level of oversight.
This creates several challenges:
- Inconsistent usage patterns – Every shop operates at different hours, with variations in footfall, weather conditions, and staff behaviour.
- Limited on-site expertise – Shop managers are focused on customers and compliance, not energy optimisation or facility management.
- High maintenance costs – Even minor inefficiencies, when multiplied across hundreds of locations, lead to significant expense.
- Difficulty gathering data – Without smart systems, it’s hard to know which shops are underperforming or wasting energy.
For businesses like William Hill, the fragmented nature of their property portfolio makes it much harder to control energy costs and carbon emissions.
Limited Opportunities to Save Energy
Unlike large office blocks or warehouses, betting shops are small spaces with relatively fixed energy demands. Heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, and gaming machines all consume power, and there are fewer opportunities to make radical savings without affecting the customer experience.
For example:
- Lighting must be consistent to maintain a welcoming environment.
- Gaming machines have baseline energy requirements that cannot be easily reduced.
- Heating and cooling systems must ensure comfort for both customers and staff, regardless of the outside weather.
This doesn’t mean energy savings are impossible, it just means they must be found in subtle, intelligent ways. Simple measures, such as ensuring heating is switched off overnight, reducing unnecessary lighting during quiet periods, or identifying faulty equipment, can add up to meaningful savings across an entire estate. However, to identify these patterns, companies require more comprehensive insights than traditional methods provide.
About William Hill
William Hill is one of the most recognised names in the betting and gaming industry, with a history that stretches back to 1934. Over the decades, the brand has built a reputation for trust, scale and reliability. Today, William Hill operates hundreds of licensed betting offices across the UK, alongside a global online platform that serves millions of customers. With such a large estate, the company faces the unique challenge of managing both digital innovation and physical retail spaces simultaneously.
The retail arm of William Hill remains a cornerstone of its business. Each property has its own energy demands, operational requirements and staffing needs. While digital betting platforms can be scaled efficiently, physical betting shops require ongoing management and optimisation. This is where operational efficiency, sustainability, and the use of new technologies become increasingly important.
