William Hill made the bold claim yesterday that it had transformed itself overnight into Europe's leading online gaming and sports betting business after striking a deal with gambling software provider Playtech.

The link-up - involving a licensing collaboration as well as an agreement for William Hill to buy up affiliates and other assets from Playtech - sees the UK's second-biggest bookmaker seeking to rectify its chronic weakness in online gambling by creating William Hill Online. The new entity will use Playtech as William Hill's poker and casino software provider, replacing CryptoLogic from January.