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William Hill review
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Out on a huge island just a short boat trip away off the coast of Stakersland, you will come across the sprawling grounds of William Hill.
Rich in history with many years of betting behind those big stone walls, the great William Hill castle sits proudly in front of the Hills betting village. Upon entering the village, you can stroll through historical elements of sports betting with insights into the illegal betting practices in the early 20th century, through to the modern-day betting experiences and ongoing battles with prosecution officers. It is a busy area of Stakersland so make sure you come prepared as up to 5M stakers come here to enjoy the sports betting. It’s the overall experience that attracts such big crowds though. You can expect to be greeted by the daily welcoming party as you walk through the gatehouse to enter the Great Betting Hall of the inner castle, and don’t forget the famous bonus firework display from the upper castle turrets…it really is a sight to behold. It’s this traditional grandeur combined with modern betting that makes William Hill our second largest bookmaker in the park and it’s also why it enjoys an island all to itself. It goes without saying that the Brits make up the majority of the staker community here, but their large crowds of international visitors coming in from Italy and Spain also help to add hundreds of millions to their overall revenue. The major sports here include horse racing and greyhound racing along with the local UK sports like football, tennis, golf, darts, and snooker. The live in-play markets also play a significant role in the sales funnel here taking up to 60% of all the bets in total. As to be expected from our number two bookmaker here at Stakersland, William Hill are forever looking to the future of betting and so they continue to send out their scouts searching for the next best thing. Esports is certainly a growing area of betting and William Hill has decided to unfurl some shameless banners outside the castle to promote their 'E-Sports Highlights', 'E-Sports In-Play' and 'E-Sports Highlights'. It does look a bit odd and the older generation of betting fans will likely raise a few questions over what exactly DOTA is.
Stakers flock to the Hills betting village for many reasons but their maximum payout limits have got to be one of the overriding reasons. The maximum of £2 million is well above the market average and this huge winning amount applies to British football, including the EPL, English Championship, League 1 & 2, Scottish Premiership, FA Cup 1st round and onwards, the top division in Spain, and a few other internationals as well. Not all markets are connected though and so you will need to bet on either of the 90 Minutes, To Qualify, To Win the League, To Win the Cup markets to trigger that £2,000,000 limit. A lower limit of £500,000 caps all wagers on the Over/Under Goals, Double Result, Match Handicaps, Correct Score, 1st/Last/Anytime Goalscorers, Wincast, and Scorecast markets. All other football match markets, including but not exclusive to, are Bookings, Cards, Goals, Draw No Bet, and other Goalscorers are all limited to £100,000. All other markets (including all markets which are decided off the field of play) are capped at a modest £10,000.
Furthermore, the domestic and international friendlies start at the £100,000 limit marker for the top markets like 90 minutes and To Win the League. It then drops to £50,000 and £10,000 for those other markets mentions above like Over/Under and Draw no Bet. For the sake of most stakers though, most bets will be related to the upper limits that we first mentioned due to the popularity of the leagues and tournaments connected to them. A special mention is needed for the horse racing in UK & Ireland as the Race Winner singles and multiples (inc. ante-post) are capped with a significant £1,000,000 limit. Showcast, Forecast, Tricasts are capped at £250,000 and all other horse racing markets including, but not exclusive to Distance Betting, Fav Points etc, Insurance, Jockey Challenge and special markets are limited to a £50,000 cap. Any Tote bet not placed into the pool for whatever reason will be capped at £10,000, and all other horse racing types including trotting, harness, and charity events are capped at £25,000.
This maximum winning limit of £2 million is only made available due to the revenue powers of William Hill. It would take them two days and eight hours to balance out the books after a maximum win and those lower limits of £10,000 would only take a matter of five minutes. Even with these huge limits in place and the huge volume of stakers walking their grounds, William Hill is a bookmaker that is sufficiently funded to pay their stakers without delay. Cash is readily available and even though it would take Bet365 just 3-4 hours to handle that £2 million limit, William Hill is still a profitable and well-respected bookmaker with a strong reputation that spans over a century.
The William Hill staker community sits at 5M and they are betting between £25-30 every month. The annual gross gaming revenue adds up to a huge £870M for this iconic bookmaker at Stakersland and the £2,000,000 limits continue to attract newcomers.
William Hill made their fortune through the 1,600 betting booths that can be found across Stakersland but we’ll be focusing on the profits made from the online community, disregarding all the extras they make from selling drinks and snacks to those two pound thrills they offer on the side. William Hill is the second largest operator and so from their 5M community they make £25-30 per staker a month, which builds up penny by penny to a cash pile of £79 Million in gross gaming revenue. Annually, our calculations show that they make a total of £870M and make final profits of around £143 million per year. It’s only fair to compare this to the number one bookmaker here in the park which is Bet365. They turn over €72.51 billion in sports wagering over the course of one year and the gross gaming revenue comes to €3.35 billion. Once you strip away all the finance related and operating costs then their overall profit sits at €765, which is five times greater than Will Hill. Ladbrokes is also an important bookmaker in the park that holds strong British traditions and so we feel that it is a worthwhile comparison to use against the William Hill brand. It is estimated that Ladbrokes generates around £480 million in gross gaming revenue to their owners the GVC Group. However, GVC has been suffering a negative -6% from their £3.6 billion gross profit which comes to a net loss of £140 million per annum, showing that Will Hill still have the upper hand over their long-running rivals.
William Hill Offers
The majority of those who enjoy this true historical story of gambling and the old-school bookmaker approach are British, followed by strong communities of Italian and Spanish stakers. Recently, the Will Hill board has managed to discover the burgeoning markets of the USA, but due to the technical legalities there, they are progressing very slowly with a only a community of 20,000 monthly active stakers at the moment.
| United Kingdom | Italy | Spain | Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| monthly | 3.9M | 423K | 378K | 62K |
| License |  |  |  |  |
Social Buzz
A total of 65 staker reviews can be found with 30 complaints, only which of five have been marked as resolved. Most stakers tend to cite the poor customer service and delayed withdrawal process as their biggest concerns.
A 3.2 rating with 65 comments and 433 votes can be found with an overall rating of ‘green’. A lack of decent promotions, poor betting limits, and the difficulty in receiving free spins while playing the casino are the most common problems. As with all of these profiles, there has been no drastic change in ratings throughout the years.
Bonus clash
The marketing team have clearly built the bonus program around horse racing and as such, stakers are being offered with market standard deals such as best odds guaranteed, insurance bonuses if horse finishes 2nd, extra places, as well as five different odds boosters. Firstly, let us see what some stakers passing by had to say about the Will Hill bonus bonanza:
“I enjoyed their sign-up bonus a lot! Odds for qualifying bets are low and the reward is decent. Two free bets of £15 for placing £10, it’s a standard and decent offer from good old William Hill.”
“The list of promotions is impressive. As I bet on horse racing mostly, I have everything I need with cashback, boosts, extra races, and others. I definitely recommend this site.”
“They ask for 3/1 odds for their cashback promo. That’s just terrible as no one bets like this. Also, the lack of football promos makes me rate it not very highly at all.”
“The only disadvantages that I’ve found there is with a lack of promotions for other type of sports than horse racing and greyhounds. Some temporary promotions and free bet clubs would be also a good idea.”
The welcome bonus of £30 that triples your initial deposits in the form of a free bet is a bright light in the centre of the Hills betting village. Other incentives include free scratch cards with random prizes and conditions that you must accept whenever you end up as a winner. It’s a nice incentive to come back each day but finding a decent prize is tough, but let us talk you through each promotion one by one and show you where you can find the best value:
| promo name | promo type | requirements | restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
Sign up using promo code H30 & Get 2 x £15 Free Bets  | welcome bonus | Sign up using the H30 bonus code and place £10 bet at odds of 1/2 (1.5) or greater | Restricted for deposits made with PayPal, Neosurf, Paysafe, Neteller, Skrill, ecoPayz, Kalibra or Postepay |
Honestly, the thought of walking up to the Will Hill Castle and greeting the guardsmen at the gate might sound daunting, but there is nothing to fear once you discover the welcoming gift of two £15 free bets. Simply hand over the H30 bonus code and place your qualifying bet of £10 at odds of 1.5 or more to claim your bonuses.
| promo name | promo type | requirements | restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
Moneyback if your horse finishes 2nd | FROM £1 | Place a qualifying bet on Horse Racing | Applies to races from the daily promo schedule |
William Hill was among the very first who designed and delivered this style of promotion to Stakersland, so there is no better place than here to try out the offer. You will be refunded with up to £10 per race where the horse you are betting on finishes 2nd. Qualifying bets must be Singles and only your first bet on the race will count with odds of 3/1 or bigger. Just make sure that four or horses are running in the race to trigger the refund.
| promo name | promo type | requirements | restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
Scratch of the Day | Challenge | Opt-in is required | One scratch of the day game per customer per day |
By cultivating the power of computer science, the marketing team at William Hill have designed a promotion called Scratch Cards. No, it’s not the most imaginative name but it does bring extra bonus opportunities to your daily betting journey. Through this offer you can win random rewards or nothing at all, and this depends on what you scratch off on the virtual card. There are multiple bonus rewards available across different sports so it might be the case that a football fan scratches off a horse racing bonus or vice versa. Each bonus comes with a set of terms and conditions which are not made clear until the bonus has actually been revealed, so you are completely in the dark with this one until you receive the bonus.
| promo name | promo type | requirements | restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
Get 3 Boosts to use every day | boost | Boosts are added automatically (no opt-in required) | Multiple bets do not count towards this offer |
Claim a total of three bet boosts for Horse Racing and Greyhound Single bets which is renewed each day with no opt-in required. The maximum stake that you can boost is £20 so it’s a great deal for fans who like to follow the daily racing action.
| promo name | promo type | requirements | restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
Bet Boost | boost | Boost will be added automatically (no opt-in required) | Can be used on any sport, excluding Horse Racing or Greyhounds |
Here we have an offer for those who enjoy an even higher level of risk. William Hill shares the bonus boosts for accumulator bets with 3+ selections. One “Bet Boost - Acca” per day is added to your account automatically with no opt-in required. The maximum stake that can be boosted is £20 and your qualifying bet must be wagered with a minimum of three selections and up to a maximum of 25 selections in total.
| promo name | promo type | requirements | restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
Extra Places on Horse Racing | Extra Places | Minimum runners apply with the odds of 1/5 odds or higher | N/A |
William Hill adds winning places on all selected horse racing events and will payout on each way bets if your horse finishes not only in 2nd and 3rd, but 4th and 5th as well. The daily schedule will dictate the extra place races and the odds must be 1/5 of higher to qualify for the offer.
| promo name | promo type | requirements | restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
Best Odds Guaranteed | Best Odds Guaranteed | Place a bet on UK & Irish Horse Racing & Greyhounds before the race | In the case of a non-runner and prices reverting to SP, then Best Odds Guaranteed do not apply |
The creators of this bonus seem to think that your chances of winning are irrelevant and so there is no need to worry about the odds, all you have to do is to bet on the horse races. It’s true to be fair, if the Starting Price returns greater then they will pay you out at the highest odds. The offer is available on the win market and on all UK & Irish Horse Racing & Greyhound events. Racing fans should note that the maximum benefit from the ‘best odds guaranteed’ offer is capped at £25,000 per customer per day.
| promo name | promo type | requirements | restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
In-Play Insurance | FROM £1 | Place a single bet on cricket in-play | This promotion is only available to customers in the UK or Ireland |
Get rewarded in the form of a free bet which is based on 10% of your net losses on in-play cricket events, available every week up to a maximum of £100. To qualify for this promotion all you have to do is to place a single bet on cricket in-play with cash, and then lose it, of course. Free bets are added to your account by 12:00 every Monday and it will then expire within four days, so make sure you remember to bet the cashback bonus and get the most out of the deal.
| promo name | promo type | requirements | restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
Double Your Odds | boost | Singles only, cash-in is not available, stake limits apply | Double Your Odds bets do not qualify for this promotion |
An intriguing promotion designed as a placeholder for use at the Will Hill castle entrance. Stakers are provided with enhanced prices which are available online for a limited time. The promotion is available each week on special events according to the sporting schedule, and you’ll only trigger the offer on single bets only.
| promo name | promo type | requirements | restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
Flash Odds | boost | Singles bets only, stake limits apply | Flash Odds bets do not qualify for Bet Boosts |
Very similar to the famous Pokemon Go mobile game, but here you are required to inspect and search the inner betting grounds of William Hill for signs of the Flash Odds promotion. These Flash Odds give you the chance to bet at increased odds for bigger returns and the promotion is available weekly but only for a limited period of time, which is why you must be sharp-eyed and snap up the offer whenever you find it. Only single bets may be placed with Flash Odds as well. Keep your eyes peeled and see what bonuses you can catch…
Conclusion
As it reads from their promotions board, William Hill are intent on promoting their horse racing and greyhound events through various offers and deals. The reason behind this is mainly because these are the sports from which they make the most profit. However, like the wise old owl that they are, they approach other sports like football with odds boosts on accumulator bets and try to reward you with daily offers despite widespread interest. They do not offer seasonal promotions or match specific free bets, but instead they go with the odds boost deals on upcoming significant matches scheduled for the week. On the other hand, at least the bonus rules are easy to follow and that even goes for their cashback deal on the cricket in-play events.
Sports betting
The William Hill geo-specific sportsbook software is being developed by Grand Parade in Krakow.
We approach and scrutinise each and every bookmaker at Stakersland to make sure every that you receive all the best sports betting entertainment. The latest betting tools and bookmaker features are there to make your lives easier and so please read on to uncover what we found out inside the grand walls of William Hill.
For those of you who were pondering about the Will Hill jobs market in the UK, the development office has been moved over to Krakow in Poland. In 2016, William Hill acquired the marketing digital solutions company Grand Parade for £13.5 million. The transaction consisted of both cash and shares with the bookmaker issuing £500,000 new ordinary shares of 10 pence each to Grand Parade (£5 million). If you try to unravel the story of who is behind the face of Grand Parade then you will find Andy Clerkson, the founder and chief of the company who has been involved in previous ventures such as the Betfair Predicts and Bwin news site.
Sports
The major sports for UK, Germany, Italy, and Spain are geo specific and as such with a British IP address you would notice events with the local sporting leagues followed by tennis, golf, snooker, and darts. For those coming from Germany, the majority of the events will be the local Bundesliga matches. Live betting also plays a significant role in the sales funnel with the overall volume of bets reaching 60% from the in-play markets.
Betting slip
A classic approach to the betting coupon with obvious technical flaws due to a mix of technologies used in parallel of one another. From a sports betting perspective, both Single bets and Combined are available. Systems are featured with custom Patent, Trixie, Luckies, Yankee, Canadian, Heinz, Super Heinz, and Goliath. Cash Out is displayed under the open bets section with a cash-in value and the real-time returns followed with full and partial amount options.
In-play stats
Live in-play matches are featured with the main visualisation widget based on proprietary technology. The supplied overalls are diverse and includes shots off target, shots on target, corners, and goal kicks for all periods among many others. The timeline with commentary contains the chronological order of all incidents including yellow/red cards and goals throughout the match. There are no head to head, last matches, standings, or present form data available though.
Betting markets
The main markets in football include 311 pre-live and up to 180 live in any one event. Elsewhere, you can find 32 pre-live and 26 live markets for tennis, and up to 84 pre-live markets and 41 live markets during any basketball event.
Margins
The margins at William Hill are relatively high across the top events with football markets providing live margins of 6.53% and pre-live margins of 4.93% highs. Sports like tennis come in with 6.67% for pre-game events and goes to 6.84% for ongoing events.
Event results
Pre-match events are supplied through the Opta Sports widget with match previews that include present form and various details on past matches. Higher tier leagues are provided with adequate player statistics too. When it comes to the results page, if you can call it that, data is available, but many drawbacks are clear with a confusing filtering and search system being used.
| Sports | margins | live margins | markets | live markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| tennis | 6.67% | 6.84% | 32 | 26 |
| football | 4.93% | 6.53% | 311 | 180 |
| basketball | 2.4% | 8.11% | 84 | 41 |
| ice hockey | 3.62% | 9.26% | 108 | 62 |
William Hill is undoubtedly a huge bookmaker here at Stakersland, but size doesn’t always mean the best value. It’s not awful at William Hill though and you won’t be far off in terms of staker-friendly margins. Take the pre-live Champions League markets for example, the 5.56% of William Hill offers better value than Betfair’s 6.35%, but it’s not quite up to the levels of Betway at 5.1% (although it is not far off at all). One instance where we found a serious lack of value was in the live Youth Champions League events with a 9.83% margin compared to the 5.95% margin found at rivals Bet365.
Financial Limits
Our financial team at Stakersland are deeply focused on gathering up and checking all the account and betting data at the park. We only deal in verified information and we aim to outline all the processes and procedures carried out by each bookmaker. Carry on as we uncover all the results we found when investigating the financial affairs of William Hill.
Payment Method Restrictions
Which payment methods are valid when claiming my bonuses?
William Hill promotions are restricted by qualification deposits made through PayPal, Neosurf, PaysafeCard, Neteller, Skrill, ecoPayz, Kalibra, and Postepay.
The Influence of Third Party Agencies
What checks are being made and do they use any third party agencies?
William Hill informs stakers that all the data provided by them will be checked by the Will Hill team, regulatory bodies, and/or third-party organizations. They do not specify what these organizations might be, nor what information and if any databases are being used. Neither is it mentioned if they are using credit agencies during these checks. We believe that the present state of terms and conditions is incompetent and requires immediate revision.
Personal Data Transparency
Will they inform me about the automated checks being performed?
William Hill are straightforward about such checks in their terms and conditions and state that third parties might be involved in all verification steps. When it comes to the specifics of these checks, it lacks any clarification and you are unable to understand how your personal information is being used across the site. From the browser communication logs, we established that William Hill installs several trackers for their marketing and development needs. Those include Ensighten, Usabilla, Optimizely, Google Tab Manager, Tealiumiq, Content Square, Snapchat, Bing, Twitter Ads, and Facebook. These installed trackers are sufficient to record your preferences and follow you all over the internet. In our reading, the privacy policy is not up to modern standards and requires immediate revision as well. Until it is done, we do not consider it as a safe place to browse for our Stakersland society.
Social Media Communication
Will my financial disputes and complaints be answered on the social media profiles?
William Hill representatives are not highly active in addressing the financial issues that their stakers face and there are no replies to any reviews on Trustpilot. The complaints left on Askgamblers mostly remain unanswered, although one or two have been resolved positively.
Gambling Anonymously
Are my banking transactions with the bookmaker private?
The following ‘WHO’ (William Hill Online) code will be visible on all banking documents and there is no current option to use a generic code instead.
Withdrawal Timeframe & Common Complaints
How fast are the withdrawals and what do stakers complain about the most?
According to our tests, staker withdrawals are approved within 24 hours. The actual processing time after the approval for VISA/Mastercard/Maestro options is 1-3 working days. PayPal, Skrill, Neteller take another 24 hours during weekdays and bank transfers take 3-5 working days for your money to land back in your personal account. Overall, there are very few complaints from stakers about withdrawal times being longer than the given timeframe.
Player-Friendly Withdrawal Limits
What are the minimum and maximum withdrawal limits available?
The minimum withdrawal limit for VISA/Mastercard/Maestro is £5 with the maximum cap set to a decent £99,000. PayPal is set with a minimum of £10 and maximum of £5,500. Fast bank transfers, Safety Pay, and Trustly start with £5 as the minimum and rise to £10,000 as the upper limit. For any withdrawals above these limits then communication with the customer service team is required and would lead to additional Source of Wealth verification checks.
Withdrawal Options & Additional Costs
What are my banking options when withdrawing my funds and do they add fees?
Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, PayPal, Trustly, Safety Pay, and bank transfers can all be used for your withdrawal options. There are no extra fees or commission in place.
Regulatory Check Transparency
Are they clear about the Source of Funds and Source of Wealth procedures?
Within the terms and conditions of William Hill, it mentions a source of funds verification procedure among other verification checks and a list of documents as well. They maintain a dedicated page with all the details associated with their source of funds checks that includes establishing a link to your income. For employment, they would accept your latest P60 and/or wage slips for the last three months and a bank statement showing payments being made. For self-employed, the annual self-assessment tax return to HMRC would be applicable. For partnerships, the annual self-assessment tax return to HMRC and any additional evidence of dividends will be ok. For pension income, a bank statement showing payments being made and copies of your pension plan/s are allowed. For dividends income, the latest company accounts showing dividends and any certification evidence on inheritance will also be accepted. All in all, it is a useful description and it gives stakers a clear explanation on the Will Hill financial procedures.
Conclusion
William Hill offers a market standard selection of withdrawal limits that are capped just around the source of wealth verification trigger of £10,000. However, there is a significant level of transparency around these checks and they are clearly described within onsite Helpdesk documents. These detailed and refined articles appeared in line with the regulatory actions back in 2016, and so they are clearly now trying to keep their regulators happy. When it comes to their privacy policy, it does not match the same transparency requirements that we found with the source of wealth check though. There are no details given on how personal data is collected, stored, and used by third parties which is a worry. Nor does it mention anything about automatic checks and details in line with any other involved parties. Furthermore, the long list of trackers is not going to put the mind of stakers at ease, so make no mistake that your journey around Stakersland will be tracked. The basics are managed well here but there are one or two worries that pop up when you look deeper into their business practices.
Customer Support
William Hill are veterans here at Stakersland but that still doesn’t seem to bring much knowledge to their customer support agents. While they are friendly enough with most chats being held in a polite manner, too often we were transferred over to another department which, in turn, increased the overall interaction time. We even got transferred to the wrong department at times and as a result, we sometimes had to wait for up to two hours in the queue during the evening. Of course, the mighty Will Hill covers all the common contact channels with the 24/7 live chat, phone lines, and email. Additionally, their terms and conditions contained no information on any SLA or other relevant information. So, read on to find out what we discovered when we put the William Hill customer support team under our thorough investigation and testing.
Support Speed & Resolution
How fast do they reply to my general queries?
It takes agents about 5-15 minutes to join the live chat in the morning hours. The waiting time may reach 1.5-2 hours in the evening depending on the support department that you require. On average, their response time is around 2-3 minutes.
Live Chat Access
Is the online live chat tool available on the site?
Online chat is available for both existing stakers and unregistered stakers. In a simple request for a ‘no deposit’ bonus, we only received information about their welcome offer. According to a chat agent, there is a team responsible for the email communication and that they are working in parallel, however, no replies were ever received from them.
Support Team Competency
How quickly will the support team reply to complex queries?
It takes around 3-4 minutes for agents to respond to technical related questions. The answers are explained in their own words and we quickly found that they contain obvious flaws in overall technical understanding.
Level of Technical Expertise
Are the support agents sufficiently trained to answer technical queries based on odds, margins, and markets?
The agents stated that all queries related to odds and margins are out of their area of expertise. There are no doubts that only the minimum training is given for this specific department of the William Hill team.
Unregistered Staker Support
Will the customer service team interact with unregistered stakers and will I get a free bet?
Before any of our pre-signup queries were responded, the agents were repeatedly asking for account details and personal information. According to them, ‘no deposit’ bonuses are given through their affiliated websites only. So, those offers do apparently exist, but the codes are only available on those third-party sites.
Professional & Friendly Service
What type of response will I get when requesting a bonus from the service team?
Their replies to our bonus queries were always generic and we were never credited with a ‘no deposit’ bonus. Only information on the welcome offers was given as a reply and the agents provided us with no reason behind their refusal, despite numerous requests.
Customer Service Knowledge
Will the agents provide the correct information about payment limits when compared to the terms and conditions on the website?
The payments information given about limits over live chat was correct and in line with the information found within the helpdesk. The agent also provided us with a link to check whether any fees would be applied to our transactions.
Willingness to Help Out
Will the support representatives help me navigate around their website?
The support agents are willing to help you find your way around the site and they sent us both directions and page links upon request.
Tolerance Levels
Does the support team have a high tolerance level for repeated bonus requests?
After repeated bonus requests, the agents continued to forward the chat to other departments, but this did not provide any bonuses either as it was only the responsible gambling department. However, their patience was not endless as they simply stopped replying to our bonus queries after a while.
Onsite Support Efficiency
How efficient is their onsite Helpdesk compared to the competition?
The William Hill FAQ section contains popular questions in a list, a grid menu with categories to choose from, a convenient search box, William Hill’s most recent tweets, and a contact button as well if you need further assistance.
Conclusion
It was clear from the start that the support team lacked an obvious level of training in all areas of the customer support operation. Technical queries regarding web browser loading issues or sports betting odds and margins were out of their area of expertise, as they openly explained themselves. It takes 5-15 minutes for your live chat session to get answered in the morning and this can take up to two hours in the evening. The queries associated with the helpdesk are answered within 2-3 minutes, but we found that the copy-and-paste text exactly matched the source pages, so again a lack of knowledge on the subject simply adds to the overall waiting time. Overall, the customer support team operates to the level of any simple chat box and in this specific circumstance, the agents could easily be replaced with an AI chat bot without much effort.
Conclusion
It was clear from the start that the support team lacked an obvious level of training in all areas of the customer support operation. Technical queries regarding web browser loading issues or sports betting odds and margins were out of their area of expertise, as they openly explained themselves. It takes 5-15 minutes for your live chat session to get answered in the morning and this can take up to two hours in the evening. The queries associated with the helpdesk are answered within 2-3 minutes, but we found that the copy-and-paste text exactly matched the source pages, so again a lack of knowledge on the subject simply adds to the overall waiting time. Overall, the customer support team operates to the level of any simple chat box and in this specific circumstance, the agents could easily be replaced with an AI chat bot without much effort.
Our FAQ below should help you out if you come across any issues or problems with the William Hill customer support team:
Are you able to complain with William Hill?
Complaints regarding accepting and the settlement of a bet or a game being played will be taken into consideration within six months. If a customer service agent is not able to resolve a complaint, it should then be escalated to a manager or supervisor. It is stated that the final resolution will be provided within eight weeks.
Where to complain if they refuse the withdrawal?
If a staker is not satisfied with the team’s decision then a dispute may be raised with IBAS, their official ADR, or with the Online Dispute Resolution platform. Non-UK stakers may also submit a complaint to the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner.
How do stakers rate the William Hill customer service?
Stakers complain about the customer service not helping them to resolve any of their financial and technical issues. Stakers also leave negative feedback because of the long waiting times to interact with a support agent.
Up or down
What is most surprising here is that for something nearly 100 years old and built on a mix of technology stacks, the uptime of 99.57% is impressive. Walk up to the castle gates and receive your welcome bonus code from the gatekeeper and there should be no entry issues. After some more investigations, we were able to confirm that the uptime of William Hill is actually above the market leader bet365 and significantly higher compared to the rest of the industry. It all looks good until we test the site optimisation though. Unfortunately, the Google Page Speed test does not spare the William Hill development team. We clocked only 34/100 for the desktop and 21/100 for mobile. This does not comes as a surprise for us considering the haphazard structure of the technologies being used.
TECHNOLOGY
The frontend is based on a super mix of everything that you can think of. Either from a lack of understanding of technology, or from a freedom of choice, it is still unclear. In addition to native JavaScript, the elements of jQuery, Angular, React JS and ExtJS are being used. Definitely, this is an excessive complexity created by the exiting developers and left for the upcoming developers to deal with. While most of the updates are going through websockets through the API, they found their own way of returning readymade html and inserting it in where appropriate. For the backend, there is a super slow Java application with serious problems around memory allocation. Plus, through this mish mash of frameworks, you can still bet using an old Openbet sportsbook!
DATA CENTER
The servers of William Hill are protected by Amazon Clouds. The presence of microservices and easily scalable programming languages, together with AWS, allows high-fault tolerance of the system. Interestingly, for the operation of various modules, many extra subdomains are in use which are managed by Terraform. This would mean the logical modules of the Sportsbook are distributed on different servers and have practically nothing in common with each other. This would then create unpredictable results and require different teams to be involved and as such will produce further problems with ongoing support being essential.
SSL CERTIFICATE
The certificate is worth $1,200 and issued by HydrantID, this applies to the following subdomains: bingo.williamhill.com, careers.williamhill.com, casino.williamhill.com, help.williamhill.com, news.williamhill.com, poker.williamhill.com, static .williamhill.com, vegas.williamhill.com, williamhill.com, www.williamhill.com. The certificate uses a 256-bit algorithm with the key of 2048 bits, and as such is meeting the current market standards of bookmakers here at the land of Stakers.
In summary, and to put it bluntly, we were expecting William Hill to be the engine of technological progress in the land of Stakers. But it turned out to be a makeshift shed that has been wrapped up and secured with five framework locks. Four of which have been broken and left when previous developers were continuously losing the lock keys. In other words, instead of fixing the root problem they just keep bandaging the system up when something goes wrong. Our technical expert who was involved in the testing was indeed surprised at such a setup from the number two bookmaker at Stakersland. It’s a mix of excitement to find such a crazy structure but essentially, he was warily shaking his head as he finished up his test report. To put it bluntly yet again, there is no reason as to why this site is still working and ultimately, it could potentially stop at any single moment.
countries where William Hill is licensed
The William Hill headquarters are located in London, UK. The teams continue to increase though with large offices now in Sofia, Bulgaria and one in Las Vegas, USA. The developmental hub is now located in Poland through the Grand Parade design studio, who Will Hill acquired back in 2016. As a Stakersland powerhouse, William Hill is licensed by the UKGC and the government of Gibraltar under the name WHG (International) Limited. William Hill also extends its betting entertainment across Europe and the world with the following; they currently hold a license from AAMS in Italy, a license by the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling in Spain, a license by the Schleswig-Holstein state for sports betting in Germany, they have various licenses in Sweden, and also in Ireland by the HM Revenue and Customs. In 2012, it also established ‘William Hill US’ with a focus on retail and mobile operations in Nevada. In New Jersey, they are operating at Monmouth Park Racetrack, Ocean Resort Casino, and Tropicana Atlantic City. They are also running sports books in Indiana, West Virginia, Iowa, and a race book in Florida too. It goes on. William Hill is also a licensed sports betting provider in numerous casinos throughout Mississippi and New Mexico and serves as the exclusive risk manager for the Delaware and Rhode Island sports lotteries. It’s fair to say that they have plenty of operations running across the largest and most lucrative betting areas of the world. It’s also clear to see that WHG Ltd are currently concentrating on growing their incomes from outside the UK, focusing especially on the US market. We found 29 open positions for developers in their Las Vegas office and they are also looking to expand their customer support team which is located in Bulgaria.
Let’s take a moment to look into the history of William Hill which will help us discover how they have managed to build their empire into the number two bookmaker here at Stakersland. But it will also reveal the many ups and downs, fines, and sanctions recorded against their name along the way. Strap in because this is quite the story. So, there is no hiding the fact that William Hill was established at a time when gambling was illegal in Britain, they were founded back in the last century during the year of 1934. It changed hands many times with it being acquired by British capitalists and was continuously sold backwards until Grand Metropolitan was found to have exaggerated the profits of the company at the time of the last sale. Eventually, when there were no more buyers willing to ‘buy and sell’ the William Hill brand, they found a last-minute opportunity via Japanese investment bank Nomura who initiated a £700m leveraged buyout in 1997. The owners at the time, Brent Walker, suddenly collapsed with debts exceeding £1.3 billion after an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office that ended up with two top-level directors being given prison sentences.
Roll on to the new millennium and the company was eventually listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2002. In 2005, the William Hill company then bought 624 betting offices from Stanley Leisure for a total of £504 million. It was a landmark moment as this acquisition briefly took the Will Hill brand past their rivals Ladbrokes into first position in the UK betting market, but this was more in terms of the number of shops and not related to actual revenue numbers. It didn’t last long though as the Office of Fair Trading then made William Hill sell 78 of their 624 Stanley shops due to growing concerns over anti-competitive practices. Amidst fears that William Hill had overpaid for these Stanley shops, the company then found themselves being relegated from the FTSE 100 Index in December 2005. Fast forward three years and in November 2008, they went into partnership with Orbis (previously OpenBet) and Israeli software company Playtech, in order to remedy their failing online operations. During these talks, analysts at UBS noted a "concern" at the company's actual level of debt, which stood at over £1 billion and was later reported at a much bigger figure of £1.5 billion.
If you think that this struggle for survival ended in modern history then you would be mistaken, as we continue the entertaining story of William Hill into recent years. In May 2008, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) banned William Hill from running a controversial television advert that was not in line with the current standards. This did not stop them though and in March 2010, a controversial TV advert stating that "William Hill best prices FACT" was banned by the ASA yet again. It seems that all these fines only ever made these betting entrepreneurs more venturous though, and ever more cash hungry as well. Notably, in November 2014 and August 2016, the gambling business breached anti-money laundering and social responsibility regulations. Systemic senior management failures in protecting consumers and preventing money laundering resulted in the William Hill Group (WHG) paying a penalty package of at least £6.2 million in total. Shortly after that, they were fined again with £3 million by the UKGC, following an investigation which again uncovered systemic compliance failings in its pursuit of their dealings with Mr Green. This was confirmed in the 2019 financial results which the group had outlined a provision for that £3 million penalty.
It sure is a long history full of business transactions, fines, and penalties. So, let us outline those sanctions and official legal actions for you below just to give you a clear overview:
- 2008 – The ASA banned William Hill from running a controversial TV advert.
- 2010 – Another William Hill TV advert was banned by the ASA.
- 2018 – UKGC showed the failings of social responsibilities between November 2014 and August 2016. A penalty package of £6.2 million was eventually summoned and duly payed.
- 2019 – UKGC found systemic compliance failings in line with the Mr Green business and a provision for a £3 million penalty was noted in their 2019 financial report.
Questions
What documents do William Hill require for account verification?
William Hill accepts driving licences, passports and national identity cards for the age verification. For address verification, they accept bank or credit card statements issued within the last six months, and these must show your full name and address and the issuing body's name or logo or utility bill (e.g. gas, electric, water). A council tax bill issued within the last six months is also applicable and this must show your full name and address and the issuing body's name or logo. William Hill maintains established procedures for source of wealth checks and they execute these at the limit of cumulative deposits and withdrawals above £10,000.
There is a dedicated page with all the details associated with their source of funds checks. Establishing a link to your income and employment, they would accept your latest P60 and/or wage slips for the last three months, and a bank statement showing payments being made. For self-employed stakers, an annual self assessment tax return to the HMRC would be suitable. For any partnership situations, the self assessment tax return and evidence of any dividends are allowed. For pensions, you can show your income via a bank statement that shows payments being made and copies of your pension plan/s. For dividends, proving your income via the latest company accounts that displays dividends or any certification and evidence of inheritance will also be permitted.
How long does it take them to settle the bets and payout?
For UK races and sporting events, bet settlement is likely to be instantaneous for most of the markets. Lower leagues may take several hours in the case of any delayed official results. According to the Will Hill customer team, they use services such as the whoscored.com website, but we find this particular information to be doubtful. According to our own information and tests, they look to make the use of both Sportradar and Betradar feeds which supplies the odds, fixtures, live scores, and data for the overall settlement. For the top leagues, we found that bet settlement should be often close to instant and this is especially so for all their live in-play events. Lesser-known divisions and events are likely to take up to 24 hours in total, as these are often related to official results that are made available the following day.
How to request a withdrawal and how long it may take?
Our tests show that the withdrawals are often approved within 24 hours. However, the processing time after the approval does differ in connection to the payment method that you choose to use. It takes 1-3 working days for Mastercard, Visa, and Maestro. A 24-hour period is required for PayPal, Skrill, and Neteller during workdays. Bank transfers can take up to 3-5 working days in total. Overall, we found very few complaints in regard to these withdrawal timeframes and there was little evidence to suggest they take any longer.
The minimum withdrawal for Mastercard, Visa, and Maestro is £5 with a huge upper limit of £99,000. You have a minimum of £10 for PayPal that rises to £5,500. A £5 limit is also available for all Safety Pay, Trustly, and bank transfers with a top end of £10,000. If you are looking to withdraw over any of these limits, then you will be required to take up an official request with the customer service team. You should also then expect to carry out a Source of Wealth verification check as well due to the larger than allowed withdrawal amount in question.
Are multiple accounts allowed?
Stakers looking to create more than one William Hill account is not allowed and, in any case where their system detects it, all such accounts (except for the initial one) will be closed down. All winnings will be void and your deposits returned, however, in some individual and special situation cases we were told that duplicate accounts are allowed without those extra consequences mentioned being carried out.
Is it safe to open an account with William Hill?
William Hill is a huge enterprise in Stakersland, but it does come with a long and shady past full of business deals and fines. The fact that they are fully regulated by the gaming authorities around the world does prove their trust factor though. The current ongoing business in the USA is notable in what is an exceedingly difficult market to manoeuvre in. The serious breaches in regulatory rules during that ominous 2014-16 period is worrying but several bookmakers received the same. Nowadays, you’ll find nearly all of the sites are compliant due to the lawmakers cracking down on careless business practices. Several reviews do cite the issues of accounts being closed with suspended funds without clear reason, so it does call for stakers to step with caution. Overall, your winnings should be honoured due to the huge stacks of cash that William Hill control and this explains why they can introduce those upper £2 million payout limits.
VPN Usage Legal or Not?
Overall VPN status is not defined on the William Hill terms and conditions page or on the Help Centre section either. However, through our own tests, we did find that their website is accessible with VPN turned on. But as always, we recommend that you only sign up and bet at William Hill from within the countries that they are officially licensed to operate in.
gross gaming revenue
customer base
time to make £2M
Social Buzz
Up or down
Only 11% of the reviews here are positive and although the profile was officially claimed back in April 2015, there have been no responses of any kind. Most of the complaints are based around account closures and poor customer service with one or two issues on bonus rules and depositing.