Last updated September 29th, 2022
William Hill Bookmaker is one of the biggest and most famous betting firms in the world. That alone suggests it is a great place for UK punters to join, and it is.
This huge company is listed on the stock exchange. JustBookies has looked at their company accounts and the volume of sports bets taken on a yearly basis runs into billions of pounds. They also have several thousand bookies’ shops in the United Kingdom. That makes them one of the highest profile presences in British high streets and, in this William Hill review, we find them to offer a top-class service to their players, with few complaints of customers having bets limited in size, removal of promotions and even closure of accounts. That can happen at other firms. The William Hill bookies betting site is complex but simple to browse and so has quite a small learning curve for new account holders.
OPINION: JustBookies recommends William Hill Bookmaker, a big brand name that generally leaves punters satisfied. They don’t limit players quickly when they have some winners and their customer service is fairly helpful. The sports site is well designed, which makes browsing the myriad of sports betting options quite fun, interesting and easy. While they aren’t necessarily the gold standard of UK online bookmakers, they come pretty close and are a safe pair of hands. In short, this William Hill review gives them a firm thumbs up.
To see the latest William Hill customer welcome bonuses please go to the relevant page:
Restricted Countries: William Hill has a very long list of countries whose residents can not join. Please note that Bet365 has one of the shortest lists of restricted countries and may suit you better if your country appears here (in alphabetical order): Afghanistan, Algeria, Anguilla, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Cuba, Cyprus, Denmark, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, French Guiana, Gabon, Gambia, Germany (excluded from sports only), Greece, Greenland, Guadeloupe, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Holland, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Ivory Coast, Laos, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Martinique, Mauritania, Mongolia, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Netherlands, Netherland Antilles, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, North Korea, North Macedonia, Norway, Niger, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Réunion, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Vincent & The Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome & Principe, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Surinam, Swaziland, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, USA, Vanuatu, Yemen.
Further Review of William Hill Bookies
William Hill Bookmaker accepts bets from most countries, those that can not join are listed above. It has annual turnover of in excess of thirty billion pounds. Its internet division offers online sports betting, casino, poker and bingo. There are over two thousand three hundred retail shops.
It also takes bets by telephone through its huge call centres in the UK, capable of answering six hundred calls simultaneously. Its betting service was started in 1934 by the man who gave his name to the company. The company was in at the start in 1961 when bookmaker shops were legalised in Great Britain. However, Hills was very slow to embrace the internet when others started launching online sites in the UK in 1998. Amazingly JustBookies has noticed that the company has re-written history and its corporate website makes the false claim that WH launched its sportsbook online in 1998! In fact it was several years after that. This little white lie may fall in to the ‘never let the facts get in the way of a good story’ school of journalism.
Despite that reticence to join the internet era, this firm now takes almost more bets than anyone else in the online betting business. In 2009 it relocated its remote online business to Gibraltar, an offshore low-tax jurisdiction, to avoid paying the higher UK taxation as well as the UK horse racing levy.
The online software used to be in-house, but after it failed to match up to that of its competitors, and revenues decreased in a booming market, Hills partnered with Israeli software house Playtech in 2008. Arguably they acted in haste. It was a deal that heavily favoured Playtech, who were left owning twenty nine percent of William Hill’s online operation and Playtech was also paid over one hundred million pounds!
There was a lover’s tiff in February 2011 when WH sought a legal injunction to prevent Playtech discussing a merger with its nemesis and arch-rival Ladbrokes.
In October 2011 over 200 Hills employees based in Israel walked out on strike at proposed plans to move their jobs either back to the UK or Gibraltar, even though there were no such plans. Hills’ management acted quickly and decisively to resolve the situation and now everything is back on an even keel. A lot of the trouble makers left to start another betting firm called Winner, which is certainly not a company JustBookies.com would recommend to anyone and we do not even bother to review them.
In terms of sponsorship, the bookie supports UK horse racing with sponsorship of races at all levels, including the showpiece King George Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day, second only to the Cheltenham Gold Cup in terms of prestige. In 2011 they also became the sole title sponsor of the BBC televised UK Championship snooker tournament.
William Hill’s accounts:
2010: Led by their in-running product, William Hill bookie’s 2010 accounts revealed that their income from the internet had increased by a quarter on the previous annum. The betting in running had seen bets placed increase by over one hundred percent, while sports betting in all saw the sum total of the value of wagers made increase by a whopping sixty percent. Their director of finance also boasted about how the World Cup 2010 had made them shedloads of cash and was a record result for any World Cup. They had the pathetic performances by the abysmal England team to thank. Our guess is the 1-1 draw with the USA probably filled their satchels even more than the thrashing they received from Germany!
2011: These showed total profits at £1.1billion. The online betting contribution of £321million saw a 28% rise in profits on the previous year. Interestingly over 90% of profits came from the UK market and CEO Ralph Topping suggested international expansion was high on the wish list. Topping also confirmed they would like to break their ill-conceived ties with Playtech and would have the opportunity to buy out that firm’s 29% share of the online business later in 2012.
Despite various small setbacks in the last financial year, the overarching trend with the finances sees continued strong results and profits at William Hill Bookmaker.
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Considering how big and well-financed they are, William Hill should do a better job. The foreign customer service is ineffective and ultimately unhelpful. Sure, they have a ton of sports to bet on but often the ante-post markets are not updated properly. Selections, particularly in the horse racing long-term betting markets, are often spelt wrong. Horses that are not going to be running are included in futures markets. I suspect this is just incompetence and bad management. Let's hope it is not to tempt punters into betting on selections in events where stake money is not returned in the event of a non-runner. I realise the more events that are available the harder it is to make the menus user-friendly, but, boy, do they make it hard to track down events. The whole menu system needs simplifying. It is a measure of how being a betting operator is money for old rope that William Hill do such a poor job and still make so much money. They need to be taxed more and they should contribute way more to UK horse racing, which is being starved to death by under-funding from the UK bookmakers. So the conclusion of this personal review? They do a bad job for their punters, bleed horse racing dry and service compulsive gamblers, but who cares, right?
I have been betting with William Hill for the Rugby World Cup. I bet mainly on the match handicaps. I have found their betting odds prices very competitive. It is really easy to use the site. Quite impressed to be honest.
William Hill is a top bookie with a pukka site. I cant keep away!
Only just joined William Hill bookmaker thanks to your great website. I am new to online betting as I have used betting shops before. Their website is so simple to use!
I like the way the site is laid out. Seem to have all the events I need and want. Looking forward to some World Cup betting with William Hill!
William Hill Bookmaker offers a solid reliable service. From sports betting through to the casino and poker, all of which I use regularly, it is a professional service with the foremost software. If you ever need help then I find just picking up the phone to customer services easiest. Mainly I bet on football and horse racing and they do a good job.
I have joined a lot of bookies over the years. Now I stick mainly to Will Hill as they offer content tips and stuff beyond just a list of the players. I also like to play a bit of casino and their's is good. But mainly I use William Hill for the sports betting.
Decent enough website with lots of options. One negative, the email customer support is a joke and ought to be switched off as can literally take weeks. Otherwise they are good. I tend to do all my sports betting with them.