William Hill, one of the world’s biggest and leading bookmakers, announced today that they have appointed James Henderson as their new Chief Executive Officer. William Hill decided to take the new CEO from inside the company, going with their own Operations Director as the new CEO from August 1st.

Henderson has been with William Hill for 29 years now and was the natural choice for the betting giant when they current CEO, Ralph Topping, told to them that he would stop from August 1st. Topping has been a loyal William Hill guy, having been in the company for 44 years, where six of those were as the CEO.

But if Henderson thinks that he is taking over a company with no major problems, he is wrong. William Hill is having financial issues, due to the British government creating new rules for betting shops, increasing taxes and might remove the fixed odds terminals from shops as well.

William Hill already announced that they are closing down more than 100 betting shops before the end of the year, due to the new tax increase on the gambling machines and more shops might have to close as well, pending new regulations.

“Whilst we face challenges as an industry, there are also plenty of opportunities to keep strengthening William Hill by further diversifying our revenues,” Newly appointed Henderson announced in a press release.

Henderson will however be paid quite well to try and turn things around for the bookie, as his base salary is £550,000 which will increase if he reaches any of his bonus targets. He will still receive some help from Topping, who is still hired within William Hill as an advisor to the board.