William Hill to hand top job to long-serving insider

Mr Henderson has recently been based in Australia to oversee the business William Hill bought from Sportingbet last year in a £459m deal, after the bookie parted ways last month with its Australian chief, Michael Sullivan.

The company, which was recently relegated from the FTSE 100, declined to comment on the appointment. Sources close to the group insisted no firm decisions have yet been made although Mr Topping has made no secret of his eagerness to be succeeded by an internal candidate.

In an interview with The Telegraph last year, he stressed the importance of William Hill keeping hold of the bright stars in its management team and named Mr Henderson, along with finance director, Neil Cooper.

Mr Topping’s own appointment as chief executive in 2008 was, in his own words, a “cock up”. He was only named after an exhaustive eight-month search and the board has been keen to avoid a repeat of the botched succession.

However, Mr Topping said in February that he would not play a part in vetting the final candidates , even though he was asked by the bookie’s chairman, Gareth Davis.

Mr Topping said at the time: “That’s dangerous. It’s a bit like having a son-in-law walk into your house. I’ve never liked any of them. I’ve put up with them, I’ve been very polite to them, I’m very helpful but I’ll have a view on them and that’s the worse thing that can happen.”

Mr Henderson will take over at a difficult time for bookmakers, amid continued scrutiny of controversial fixed-odds gaming terminals found in high street shops and with a new 15pc online betting tax due to come into force in December.

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