William Hill PLC
10 January 2005



10 January 2005

                                WILLIAM HILL PLC

                        CLOSE PERIOD TRADING STATEMENT

William Hill (the 'Group') expects to announce profits before interest and
taxation in the region of £232m for the 52 weeks ended 28 December 2004 (52
weeks ended 30 December 2003: £201.7m).

The Group expects basic earnings per share for the 52 weeks ended 28 December
2004 to be in the region of 36 pence which represents a 20% increase over the
comparative period.

Performance in the first half of 2004 benefited from favourable results for UK
horseracing and football including the Euro 2004 football championship.

In contrast, performance in the second half of 2004 has been adversely affected
by less favourable horseracing results and significantly poorer results in
respect of domestic and international football since the start of the current
season. This trend, which is consistent with normal variations in sporting
results, continued to prevail in the closing weeks of the year.

The growth of random number generated events as a proportion of overall betting
opportunities has increased the Group's revenue resilience in periods of less
good sporting results. Roughly a third of the Group's gross win is now derived
from 5,500 fixed odds betting terminals in the retail estate, online casino,
poker and arcade sites, and virtual and traditional numbers products.

The Group is in good shape operationally with costs firmly under control, major
investment programmes in electronic point of sale and replacement text systems
on track, and a number of business development initiatives planned for 2005.

Preliminary results for the 52 weeks ended 28 December 2004 will be released on
2 March 2005.

Enquiries:

David Harding, Chief Executive 020 8918 3910

Tom Singer, Group Finance Director 020 8918 3910



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