Bank of America – Merrill Lynch: Time to bet on William Hill

It’s that time of the year for window dressing and the folks over at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (Merrill) are suggesting that the stocks of British bookmaker William Hill are already ripe for plucking.

The international financial investment institution has given the stocks of William Hill a “buy” rating from “underperform,” its biggest gain in more than three months that helped it propel toward the top of the FTSE 250, according to The Evening Standard.

Most investors are wary of making a bet not only on William Hill but also on other bookies, especially after the British government launched a crackdown on fixed-odds betting terminal (FOBTs).

The UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is conducting its 12-week consultation on the sector and investors expressed fears that the £2 option will cost the industry as much as £639 million a year and a whopping £5.5 billion over 10 years.