WILLIAM HILL operate the fastest growing Internet gambling site of any UK based betting company with 292,000 active clients. We also operate 7,500 Fixed Odds Betting Terminals and 600 AWP machines across our retail estate.
In short, WILLIAM HILL is universally recognized as one of the world's leading bookmakers.
Online, on the high street, on the phone
Founded in 1934, William Hill is one of the best-known names in the gambling industry, providing gaming and betting services across three channels: online, on the high street and on the phone. We have been listed on the London Stock Exchange (WMH.L) since 2002 and employ over 15,000 people in the UK, Ireland, Israel and Bulgaria.
Our aim is to give our customers what they want, when they want it, where they want it. We are one of the UK's leading bookmakers, with a trusted high-street brand based on our in-depth knowledge of fixed-odds betting and our unrivalled customer service. With the advent of internet betting and gaming, we have extended our market-leading brand to a new generation of customers around the world.
Key facts about William Hill's retail business:
• We operate in around 2,300 betting shops across the UK and Ireland, most of which are open seven days a week, offering odds and taking bets on a wide range of sporting and other events
• We process over one million betting slips every day
• The gaming machines that we offer in the majority of betting shops enable customers to bet on roulette, slots and other random number generated events
• Through a joint-venture with Codere, we are developing a retail business in Spain, operating under the Victoria brand
• Our call centres for telephone betting can handle over 600 calls simultaneously
• We own and operate two Greyhound stadia (in Sunderland and Newcastle)
Key facts about William Hill Online:
• In October 2008, we established William Hill Online, the leading European online gaming and sports betting business
• Our online Sportsbook serves customers from over 175 countries, offering six languages and 11 currencies
• In 2007, we took online bets from 169 countries for over 60,000 events (350,000 markets) and over 30 sports
• Our gaming websites offer casino, poker, bingo and skill games
Our history
William Hill founded the business in 1934.
Gambling – particularly on sporting events – is ingrained in our culture. You can find references to it by historians throughout the ages as far back as Herodotus, Western culture’s ‘Father of History’. The English language is peppered with phrases we use without thinking about which stem from our love of gambling – ‘you bet’, ‘I bet you are’, ‘put your money where your mouth is’.
A trusted brand
In earlier times most gambling was done behind closed doors. When William Hill founded the company in 1934, the industry had no governing body, and bookies were not even legally obliged to pay a customer’s winning bet. This, of course, was a great business opportunity: William Hill built a reputation on being knowledgeable, honest and trustworthy. The company started out as a postal / telephone betting service where a punter would send a bet with a cheque weeks in advance of an event.
New on the high street
In 1961, betting shops became legal, with William Hill joining the market in 1966. Shops were heavily regulated, however, to encourage people not to loiter. It was during this period that they got something of a reputation for being dens of iniquity with their blacked-out, closed windows, and murky, smoky atmosphere. With the arrival of television, however, betting became more of a leisure activity, with people spending time in betting shops to watch the races or the football. When the UK’s National Lottery began in 1994, placing a bet became a much more socially acceptable activity. As legislation changed, shops became bigger, lighter, and air conditioned, and started to include games as well as betting.
Betting goes online
1998 was an important year for William Hill, when we became the first in the industry to launch an online betting facility, our Sportsbook. The internet has changed the face of the industry, bringing in new, younger punters for a range of gambling and gaming activities, as well as providing an easy way to place a bet. Some things don’t change though – our reputation for honesty and integrity and our exceptional customer service are as important to today’s punters as they were in the days of placing a bet by putting a cheque in the post.
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