William Hill to work with UK government on gambling machines

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Leading British bookmaker William Hill said on Friday it would work with the government to tackle concerns about the use of high stakes gambling machines in its betting shops.

Shares in bookmakers came under pressure last week when Prime Minister David Cameron added his voice to political concerns over the impact of fixed-odds betting terminals which earn the industry around 1.5 billion pounds ($2.5 billion) a year in revenues.

William Hill (Other OTC: WIMHF - news) said it planned to adhere to a new industry code to be implemented by March to warn gamblers how much they have spent and how long they have been on a machine.

"In addition, we and the industry will continue to work with both government and the regulator to look at additional harm reduction measures, such as increasing the level of responsible gambling messaging in advertising, to supplement the code," the company said in a trading update.

Critics say the machines on which gamblers can stake up to 300 pounds per minute risk fuelling addiction and can be used to launder money from crime.

In its trading update, William Hill forecast operating profit of around 334 million pounds for 2013, broadly in line with forecasts. It will publish full results on Feb. 28.

It said last weekend's rare set of soccer results in which the top seven teams in the English Premier League all won had cost it 13 million pounds.

William Hill has expanded overseas and online in recent years, establishing itself as Britain's biggest bookmaker and joining the FTSE 100 index of leading British stocks last May.