A former Saturday worker at a William Hill betting shop in Glasgow has been elevated to the chief executive’s post at the bookmaking behemoth.

The appointment yesterday of Ralph Topping, 56, who has been with the company since 1973, rising to group director of operations, follows an eight-month search for a successor to David Harding.

Until recent weeks, William Hill had focused its search outside the company, approaching executives from rival betting firms including Brian Wallace, the Ladbrokes finance director, John O'Reilly, head of e-gaming at Ladbrokes, and Wilf Walsh, formerly managing director of Coral.

Other names believed to have been considered by Egon Zehnder, the headhunter retained by William Hill, include: Ian Penrose, chief executive of Sportech, the football pools operator; Roger Devlin, the Principal Hotels chairman and former corporate development director at Hilton Group; Martin Belsham, head of Blue Square; and Graham Bartlett, managing director of the UK retail business of E.ON, the German energy group.

The appointment of Mr Topping, who joined the board last year, allows Charles Scott, the William Hill chairman, to relinquish his temporary stewardship and resume his role as non-executive chairman.

Analysts gave a lukewarm greeting to the news. Ivor Jones, at Evolution Securities, said: "The length of time it has taken to appoint someone already on the board confirms our view that Wiliam Hill faces a very tough couple of years, which proved an unattractive proposition for an outsider to take on."

Mark Reed, at Landsbanki, said: "It is hardly impressive that the process has taken so long, and the internal appointment does not give us confidence that William Hill is looking aggressively at new markets, new technologies and broadening the investor base. It very much looks like a status quo appointment."

Mr Topping’s appointment came just a day after the Government announced a fresh review of the lucrative fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) operated by bookmakers. Gerry Sutcliffe, the Sports minister, said he was "concerned about the longer-term impact of the growing populairty of FOBTs" and had asked the Gambling Commission to "give particular priority to work on the risks associated with high-stakes machines".

Shares of William Hill were down 3p at 400p in afternoon trading.

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