Mass Walkout at William Hill Support Center in Israel
Posted: October 19, 2011
Updated: October 4, 2017
Israeli support center employees of renowned British online gambling empire William Hill staged a massive walkout
Tel Aviv is the city housing William Hill offices, which handle most of the company’s marketing and customer support functions and operates in full compliance with Israeli gambling laws. Sources close to the operator report about a massive walkout by nearly 200 staff members.
The apparent resignation of Eyal Sanoff, the much beloved chief marketing officer, under dubious circumstances was allegedly the cause of the walkout. Mr. Sanoff was looked up to by employees who could always count on him for support and his unexpected resignation angered the entire staff.
Israel gambling news reported that William Hill’s executives urgently flew to Tel Aviv to deal with the situation. Other sources claim that the mass walkout is a result of the company’s alleged plan to relocate all current Israeli center functions either to Gibraltar or UK.
One of the employees is rumored to have said: “Everyone’s worried. The last two years have been really good. We all bought into the company’s thinking, such as hating Ladbrokes, but the situation has deteriorated and people are really worried about their jobs. All 180 staff walked out on Sunday, which is a working day here, and only 20 came back today.”
Once the executives landed in Tel Aviv to address the crisis, William Hill issued an official statement. A small excerpt from the statement reads: “Several senior managers in Tel Aviv are now subject to disciplinary actions in relation to the disruption this week within the marketing business in Tel Aviv.”
The statement also said: “Senior William Hill Online management are currently on the ground in Tel Aviv working through these issues, although it should be noted that the office in Tel Aviv will be closed from tomorrow [Wednesday] through to early next week, as normal, through the Jewish holiday period.”
The officials were quick to comment on the future of the leading online sportsbooks in Israel: “The vast majority of employees of the marketing team in Tel Aviv have good working relationships with the business. William Hill is committed to its sales and marketing operation in Tel Aviv and contrary to media reports has no intention of relocating this operation.”
We will follow the situation closely, please stay tuned for any further developments.