William Hill is something of a byword for betting in the UK – but this company’s online offering hasn’t always been a hit. With a long pedigree in on-course and high street betting, William Hill was slow to make an impact online and it wasn’t until a 2008 partnership with OpenBet and Playtech that things started to improve.
William Hill isn’t exactly out of the woods, though. Misplaced boardroom decisions brought a £27 million loss in 2018 and the 2020 pandemic prompted the closure of 119 betting shops in the UK.
However, such losses should not impact customer confidence. William Hill is a famous name in the industry and is likely to fall into the ‘too big to fail’ category. And, with a worldwide reach, it meets the regulatory requirements of the Gibraltar Gambling Authorities and UK Gambling Commission.
So what does the British oldest bookmaker offer to the modern world of online betting? Let’s take a look at www.williamhill.com and find out.
Layout
In William Hill, all the usual features are present and correct. A menu bar at the top allows users to switch between sports betting, three casino options, poker, games, bingo and promos. The day’s enhanced odds and promos appear front and centre, with top live and upcoming markets dominating the page. To the left, a sidebar gives easy access to the number of covered sports (32 in total, from American Football to Water Polo) while the colourful right-hand column promotes William Hill’s live coverage of horses and greyhounds while also singling out top casino games and popular upcoming bets. As formats go, William Hill sticks to the classics … because it works.
William Hill apps are also available, downloaded through the App Store and Play Store, and offer the same services in a mobile format. This works for sports betting, casinos and slots, ensuring the full gambling experience is available on the move. However, it takes a bit of scrolling to find links to these downloads at the bottom of the William Hill homepage.
Services
The bookmaker company has its roots in sports betting – especially horse racing – and nobody is surprised to learn that William Hill focuses strongly on this. All the markets you might expect are available, both in pre-game and live. Punters can also get involved with #yourodds using the @WilliamHill Twitter account – come up with an off-beat acca that takes your fancy and you’ll be offered a price to consider. Football tends to lead the way with #yourodds, and it dominates the sports betting offer overall, while a deep commitment to streaming greyhound and horse racing makes William Hill a go-to site for matters of the turf.
Away from the sports field, there are three casino offers – Vegas, which offers a huge range of slots, casino lives for table games and regular Casino with both slots and table games. A fourth, related sector, Games, brings more variations on the theme and there are also bingo and poker options.
Live
Once again, there are no real surprises here. William Hill offers extensive live markets. The football choices run from Atletico Madrid to Ashington, but a typical evening could also offer all sorts of unlikely markets to explore. Table tennis? Check. NASCAR? Right on. South American Champions League Basketball? Apparently, that’s a thing, too.
Away from racing, though, streams can be in fairly short supply. Luckily, there are some fairly detailed in-play stats on offer, even in the lower reaches of non-league football, to help you get a feel for how the action is playing out.
Bonuses
William Hill welcome bonus is one of the better ones. Use the appropriate promo code when you join, place a £10 bet at odds of 1.5 or higher, and you’ll get two £15 free bets. Those freebies are valid for 30 days and can be used at any price, with no further wagering requirements. As usual, though, free bet stakes are not returned with winnings.
Other William Hill freebies include a daily scratchcard, a daily acca bonus that offers either boosted odds on 30-folds or a freebet of up to £20 on failed five-timers (terms and conditions apply). Live bets on cricket and tennis also offer a 10% refund of any losses over the course of a week, again paid as a free bet.
Customer Support
The starting point for queries is William Hill helpdesk’s FAQ page, which offers fairly extensive information about William Hill’s site and its workings. For more specific queries, a 24-hour web chat is in place and promises to provide the quickest response. Email is another option, albeit with a warning of a 48-hour wait. The telephone help service is currently suspended due to coronavirus restrictions.
Registration
The registration process in William Hill is – for most users – quick and easy. Simply fill in your name, DoB and contact details, choose a username and password, set up a security question. Afterwards, you can take bets in William Hill. It’s worth looking out for a promo code in order to access any welcome offers.
Account verification is normally automatic, but in some circumstances, customers may be asked to provide further evidence of their identity. Typically this will involve scanning a passport, ID card or driving license, and providing a bank statement or utility bill showing the customer’s address.
William Hill is accessible in English, German, Japanese, Greek and Russian, and it has separate domains for users in Italy, Spain and Sweden. A full list of countries with total or partial restrictions on access to William Hill can be found at https://williamhill-lang.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3060/kw/restricted countries.
Financial Details
The William Hill site offers accounts in several currencies, although punters wishing to use anything other than Sterling will need to set up a flexible account and indicate their currency preference at the time of registering with William Hill. Any exchange rate fluctuations will affect the value of payouts in currencies other than Sterling. The full list of possible currencies is the Canadian dollar, Swiss franc, Danish krone, Pound sterling, HK dollar, Japanese yen, Singapore dollar, US dollar and Euro.
You can fund deposits through bank cards or a number of electronic payment systems. However, e-payments tend to be ineligible for welcome offers. It makes sense to link your William Hill account to your bank in case you can make them eligible.
The minimum bet in William Hill is 3p for singles or 1p for 4-fold accas and up. There is no maximum stake, but there are maximum payouts. The highest of these comes in top-level football and weighs in at a cool £2 million. Class A horse racing has a £1 million cap and these make William Hill one of the potentially biggest-paying bookies in the business. At the other end of the scale, the lowest caps are set at £10,000 and refer to specific markets in minor sports.
Reliability and Reputation
William Hill is one of the most established and respected names in British betting. As such, while the business itself has had some rocky times of late, punters can bet here with confidence.
As for the technical characteristics, williamhill.com uses industry encryption, certified by HydrantID to ensure that data is transferred securely.
What’s Missing?
The big miss is probably a loyalty scheme or regular additional bonuses. Although the William Hill website insists that there’s always something happening and that’s why their users come back, the bonus doesn’t offer the sparkle of some competitors. That said, the overall offer is reliable and solid, and the welcome bonus is quite attractive. William Hill might not be your first choice but it could be worth adding to your repertoire.
am impressed with the numerous funding method listed up there. I will try betting here since the minimum deposit is low why not giving it a try