William Hill Company History
William Hill founded the company in 1934, initially offering a telephone and postal betting service. In 1961, the UK Government passed a law allowing betting shops to open and William Hill began to acquire a number of existing businesses as he looked to move into the new and lucrative retail market. Following the death of William Hill in 1973, the company came under the control of various holding companies. 1997 saw the company being purchased by the Japanese financial holdings company Nomura, for £700 million and in 1998 the first William Hill website was launched. The company was then sold to the private equity firm Cinven for £825 million and in 2002 William Hill was successfully floated on the London Stock Exchange. In recent years, William Hill has grown at both home and abroad, now being fully licensed in a number of European countries, Australia and in the US state of Nevada. William Hill is the largest land-based bookmaker in the UK – with over 2300 betting shops and a substantial share of the UK online betting market, they are one of the most popular and well known sports betting companies in the UK.
Bonus Details
The standard new account bonus for William Hill customers is a £25 or €25 match bet.
Deposit Options
William Hill offers over 40 deposit options for customers, varying by their geographical location.
The main deposit options and deposit times for customers are –
- Visa – Immediate
- Mastercard – Immediate
- Visa Electron – Immediate
- Maestro – Immediate
- Paypal – Immediate
- Skrill – Immediate
- Neteller – Immediate
- Bank Transfer – 3-5 days
- Cheque (UK only) – Within 10 days
William Hill does not charge its customers any fees for depositing but some providers may charge a fee.
Withdrawal Options
Similar to deposit options, William Hill offers over 40 withdrawal options for customers.
The main withdrawal options and withdrawal times are –
- Visa – 3-5 days
- Mastercard – 3-5 days
- Visa Electron – 3-5 days
- Maestro – 3-5 days
- Paypal – One business day
- Skrill – One business day
- Neteller – One business day
- Bank Transfer – 3-5 days
- Cheque (UK only) – Timescale confirmed upon receipt of request
William Hill does not charge its customers any fees for withdrawing but some providers may charge a fee.
Problems
William Hill is regulated and licensed in the United Kingdom by the Gambling Commission and in Gibraltar they are licensed by the Government of Gibraltar and regulated by the Gibraltar Gambling Commission. SportsbookReview.com (SBR) currently rate William Hill in their top ten list of worldwide sports betting providers, giving them an overall rating of A. SBR is the industry leader in the evaluation of worldwide sports betting sites and offers unbiased and independent recommendations and reviews as well as providing dispute resolution between sports betting companies and customers. At present there are no listed open complaints for William Hill with SBR.
William Hill is also registered with IBAS who are the Independent Betting Adjudication Service . IBAS act as impartial adjudicators on any disputes between sports betting companies and their customers if they are unable to reach a satisfactory conclusion between themselves.
Mobile Betting
Aside from the main desktop websites, William Hill offer a dedicated mobile website for use on smartphones and tablets. They have also released an app for both iOS and Android phones which has now totalled over 2 million downloads.
Summary
William Hill has been at the forefront of the UK betting industry for a number of years and now, with the expansion of online sports betting around the globe, they continue to be a dominant force.
Offering betting markets on a wide and varied number of sports ranging from horse racing to darts, the William Hill site is user friendly and easy to navigate. A number of markets are accompanied by statistics offering you information to help you make an informed selection. On horse racing they offer guaranteed best odds on all selections, meaning if you take a price on your selected horse and it wins at a bigger price, then you are paid out at the bigger price.They also offer a number of ongoing promotions on both horse racing and football such as money back as a free bet if your horse finishes second in a televised race and money back as a free bet if your football accumulator loses by only one selection. William Hill also offer a cash-out option on a number of bets, allowing you to cash-out for a profit on bets that still have selections to run.
Aside from sports betting, William Hill also offer a dedicated casino and live casino site, a vegas site, a games site along with offering bingo and poker.