William Hill is one of the best known gambling brands in the UK. Most people will have spotted their betting shops on the high street, even if they haven’t ever been inside one - in a recent survey, the brand was recognised by 93% of respondents.
When it comes to popularity, William Hill managed 8th place, falling behind only PaddyPower and Bet365 among brands with a focus on sports betting.
Admittedly, only 29% had a positive view of it - but by gambling operators’ standards, that’s not as bad as it sounds. LeoVegas, for example, managed a positivity rate of just 10% in the same survey.
Source: YouGov’s Most Popular Gambling Brands 2024
So what is William Hill getting right, and what could it do better? In this article, we’ll assess everything it has to offer, from its promotions to its sportsbook to its casino, to give you a thorough overview of the brand.
Whether you’re new to betting, a recreational bettor, or a matched bettor, you’ll have all the information you need to decide whether to sign up to William Hill.
Overview
Deposit And Withdrawal Methods
| Method | Minimum deposit | Minimum withdrawal | Withdrawal time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debit card | £5 | £5 | Up to 3 working days |
| Paysafe card | £10 | N/A | N/A |
| PayPal | £10 | £10 | Same day |
| Skrill | £10 | £5 | Same day |
| Neteller | £10 | £5 | Same day |
| ecoPayz | £10 | £5 | Same day |
| Apple pay | £5 | N/A | N/A |
| Fast bank transfer | £10 | N/A | N/A |
| Bank transfer | N/A | £25 | 3 - 5 working days |
| Truelayer | £5 | £5 | Not stated |
Registration Process
An easy three step process - simply fill in your details and you’re on your way.
Support
| Live chat | Social Media |
|---|---|
| Available 24/7 | Twitter/X |
Compatibility
| App | Desktop |
|---|---|
| iOS | Website |
| Android |
Main Pros And Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Generous regular promotions, casino especially | No phone number or email contact |
| Excellent range of sports | Unappealing website design |
| 24/7 support | RTP difficult to access for slots |
| Wide range of payment methods | Half-hearted Safer Gambling section |
| Good welcome offers |
William Hill’s Background
William Hill is a veteran bookmaker in the UK, having been founded over 90 years ago in 1934 by - no surprises here - a businessman by the name of William Hill.
His first forays into bookmaking were not exactly what you’d call legitimate. As a teenager working in a factory in Birmingham, he’d collect illegal bets from locals on his motorbike. Having spent some time as a member of the police force in Ireland, he moved to London in 1929 and began taking bets on greyhounds, before opening an illicit gambling den in 1934.
From these insalubrious beginnings, William Hill (the bookmaker, rather than the man) grew to become a more respectable business. It has changed hands many times over the past few decades, most recently to 888 Holdings in 2022 for £1.95 billion.
In recent decades, William Hill has reduced its offerings in Europe while looking to expand further afield. In June 2012 it bought three chains of sportsbooks in Nevada, and the following year bought another three brands in Australia (although it then sold its Australian operations in 2018).
William Hill has since launched operations in New Jersey and Washington D.C., as well as expanding into South America with ventures in Argentina and Colombia.
It’s been the cause of controversy on a number of occasions, and in 2023, facing the possibility of its license being suspended if it didn’t comply, was ordered by the Gambling Commission to pay a record £19.2 million for failures in its social responsibility and anti-money laundering procedures.
Hopefully, after this somewhat patchy history, William Hill has learnt its lesson and cleaned up its act.
William Hill Welcome Offers
Compared to some bookies, William Hill has a narrow range of welcome offers - but they’re nonetheless well worth doing! The focus is entirely on sports and casino - despite having both bingo and poker sections, neither has its own dedicated welcome offer - but those offers are generous enough to compensate for their limitations.
If you’re making money through Matched Betting, you’ll have no reason to complain about the sports offer, which gives you 3 £10 free bets after you’ve made a qualifying bet of £10. If you’re more of a fan of casino, meanwhile, you’ll be delighted by the 200 free spins offered by William Hill when you stake £10, which is very much at the more generous end of things.
Sports betting: Bet £10 & Get £30 (using promo code R30)
Casino: Get 200 free spins when you deposit and play £10 (using promo code BBS200)
William Hill Sportsbook
The sportsbook is one of the more impressive aspects of William Hill’s service, with a wide range of sports and an incredibly diverse range of markets for the most popular events. At the time of writing, an upcoming English League Cup match between Tottenham and Liverpool has over 700 markets, meaning you’d be hard pressed to think of a market that isn’t offered.
While not universally the best available, its odds are consistently at the more competitive end of the market, meaning that bettors can be pretty confident of receiving good value when staking their money.
Range Of Sports
- American Football
- Athletics
- Australian Football
- Badminton
- Baseball
- Bowls
- Cycling
- Darts
- Futsal
- GAA Football
- GAA Hurling
- Handball
- Ice Hockey
- Lacrosse
- Motor Racing
- Motorbikes
- Rugby League
- Rugby Union
- Table Tennis
- UFC
- Volleyball
- Water Polo
Regular promotions
William Hill can be a little inconsistent with their sportsbook promotions, but they do have frequent Bet & Get offers available for specific sports, generally timed to coincide with high profile events.
As well as this, they have daily price boosts available, on specific sports/events and on certain types of bet (e.g. bet builders or accas), which can be a great source of added value both for recreational and matched bettors.
For football, 2UP offers are great to see, as well as Best Odds Guaranteed for horse racing - although both of these promotions are quickly becoming the baseline for what we’d expect from sportsbooks these days.
William Hill Casino
Range of games
William Hill’s Vegas section has a wide range of games, including many of the most popular names in online slots, from Fishin’ Frenzy to Big Bass to King Kong Cash. It also offers a number of slots created by its very own development team, Section8.
On the live casino front, you can choose from a range of Blackjack, Roulette and Baccarat variations, or head for the game shows if that’s your preference.
Regular promotions
When it comes to casino promotions, William Hill is particularly impressive. As well as a daily ‘deposit and stake for free spins’ offer (a perennial favourite with our members), completely free spins will be up for grabs pretty frequently. At the time of writing, 10 free spins on Riptide Fishing were on offer, with no wagering requirement.
All in all, casino fans are likely to have an excellent experience when playing with William Hill.
William Hill Usability
It must be said that William Hill’s website is a long way from the best we’ve seen. Instead of a clean, easily navigable site, its designers seem to have attempted to ram everything into the smallest possible space, resulting in a website that comes across as dated and cluttered.
In what is presumably an attempt to modernise, William Hill has added an ‘Interactive Stories’ carousel to its sports betting homepage, mimicking the Stories function on Facebook and Instagram.
It’s hard to conclude that this is anything more than a gimmick, however - in essence, it’s a promotions banner that requires extra clicks to access the promotion you’re interested in.
Below that are price boosts in featured markets and in-play markets, with more general sports betting further down the page. On the left sidebar you can navigate to all sports, while on the right is Betting TV as well as links to its Vegas section.
Thankfully, the betslip is hidden until you make a selection, meaning that it at least isn’t contributing to the clutter on the main page. There’s also a search tool on the top left, allowing you to track down more obscure events with ease.
When you navigate to a specific event, the left and right hand sidebars remain visible, so there isn’t much of a break for the eyes. Unusually, recent stats and performance for the teams or competitors aren’t shown prominently, as is the case for most other bookies, with a promotions bar taking their place.
On the bright side, the markets themselves are laid out logically, and each can be minimised, making it much easier than you might expect to navigate the available markets.
When it comes to casino (or Vegas, as it’s known on the William Hill site), the style changes drastically. Suddenly, features are spaced out, resulting in a much less overwhelming page which is more pleasing to navigate.
There’s an obvious search tool, which is always a bonus, and a simple left hand sidebar allowing for easy browsing through available games.
On the downside, RTP isn’t accessible without launching a game and searching through several pages of information. While better than not listing the RTP at all (which some bookies are guilty of), we’re not a fan of casinos that make it awkward to locate.
As for the Help Centre, it’s functional, even if the basic design leaves something to be desired. Topics are arranged by category and each question generally has a pretty comprehensive answer - though you do have to click ‘read more’ to actually view it, adding a completely unnecessary extra step.
Overall, we’ve certainly seen worse, but we’d prefer to see better.
William Hill Safety And Security
William Hill’s funds protection meets the Gambling Commission’s requirements for ‘medium’ protection, which indicates the following:
‘Customer funds are kept in accounts separate from business accounts; and arrangements have been made to ensure assets in the customer accounts are distributed to customers in the event of insolvency.
However, there is no absolute guarantee that funds will be protected in the event of insolvency.’
This means you’re unlikely to have to worry about any funds you hold with William Hill - but also that they haven’t invested quite so much in funds protection as some of their competitors.
Rather than creating a dedicated Safer Gambling section of their website, William Hill offers a Safer Gambling page as part of its Help Centre. It must be said that this comes across as something of an afterthought - but typical tools such as deposit limits, self-exclusion, time-outs are still available, as well as links to third party organisations offering help for problem gamblers.
William Hill Service And Support
William Hill’s main means of contact is live chat, available 24/7 from the website. While your chat is initially answered by a bot, you’ll be put through to a human agent if you need to speak to a person, ensuring that you’re able to access help if you need it.
An alternative is to make contact via Twitter/X, which is monitored between 8am and 11pm, however you’re likely to get a swifter response on chat.
It’s a shame not to see a phone number or email address, but this is increasingly common with online companies (not just bookies), and can probably be forgiven.
| Live chat | Social media |
|---|---|
| Available 24/7 via website | Twitter X - @WillHillHelp8am-11pm |
William Hill App
William Hill has been forced to streamline its web design somewhat in order to make it work in app form, and the result is rather more effective than the website.
The interactive stories carousel makes somewhat more sense on a smartphone-sized screen, and in general the homepage comes across as much less chaotic.
A general menu allows you to access almost anything you’re looking for, while the Vegas (casino) section makes it easy to play your favourite slots from your phone.
Much like many other bookies, William Hill does have a dedicated casino app, but there’s no particular need to double up, as everything is accessible from the sports betting app.
Summary
William Hill’s website may leave a fair bit to be desired, but that doesn’t mean you should write it off. Both its sports and casino welcome promotions are solid offerings, and well worth signing up for alone.
When you factor in its regular promotions, on both the sports and casino sides of things, there’s a lot of value to be had, especially for matched bettors.
And if you aren’t already familiar with Matched Betting and want to find out more, check out our comprehensive beginner’s guide to learn how to make regular extra income from one of the nation’s best side hustles.