A Quick Guide to William Hill

New account registrations will be rewarded with £20 of free bets when you deposit and stake £10 at odds of 1/2 or greater. Whilst this isn’t the most lucrative offer available online, this deal is transparent and doesn’t hold any nasty surprises.

William Hill is one of the oldest and most well known betting sites in the world, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange as part of the FTSE 250. Having a high street presence enables William Hill’s customers to win online but get paid in cash instore.

Overview of Markets and Bet Types at William Hill

William Hill have been pioneers in the gambling world since they were founded in 1934, in fact gambling was actually illegal back then! William Hill were the first company to introduce a fixed odds football coupon which are so familiar in high street bookmakers today.

Fast forward to the modern age and William Hill offers a great selection of markets you can have a flutter on. With over 30 events, you will never be short of betting options.

List of Markets

• American Football
• Bandy
• Baseball
• Basketball
• Boxing
• Cricket
• Cycling
• Darts
• E-Sports
• Football
• Formula 1
• Gaelic Games
• Golf
• Greyhound
• Racing
• Handball
• Horse Racing
• Ice Hockey
• Moto GP
• Poker
• Politics
• Rugby League
• Rugby Union
• Snooker
• Speedway
• Tennis
• TV and Film Specials
• UFC and MMA
• Racing
• Virtual Sports

If you are looking for something a bit different to bet on, then you can try the politics betting! This changes to reflect current world events. It was interesting to see that the bookmakers were spectaculy wrong about the Brexit public vote. Incidently, William Hill offered odds of 5/1 on leave, as a punter I feel reasured that the bookie is not always right!

In a similar fashion the TV & specials market is also fun and intriguing. This also changes a lot but some of the highlights at the time of writing are; The X Factor (outright winner, top 3 finish, best boys performer, best overs age group, first judge to lose all acts, winning judge, best girl performer and best group performer), Strictly Come Dancing (outright, top male, gender of winner, top 3 finish, top female), BBC Sports Personality of the Year (outright, team of the year), Oscar winners, Christmas Specials (number 1 single, top Christmas video game, snow on Christmas Day), Great British Bake Off (To replace Mary Berry as a judge, To replace Mel and Sue as presenters), Game of Thrones (Outright – Who will rule the Seven Kingdoms at the end of the Final TV Episode) and many, many more!

Football fans are well looked after, one feature I did really like and isn’t something you see on many online sports betting sites is the ability to search for a football team using an A-Z. This may sound insignificant but if you have ever tried to find one fixture among hundreds then you will know what I mean.

Bonus Offers and Promotions at William Hill

The best online sports betting sites rotate their promotions regularly and William Hill doesn’t disappoint in this respect. As with most online bookies, football is the sport that features most prominently. Before we look at some topical promotions, let’s take a look at the welcome offer.

As mentioned in the intro, William Hill will give you 2 x£10 in free bets when you deposit £10 or more and use the code F20 on sign up. Although this is one of the most hassle free offers, there are some terms and conditions that you should be aware of;

• You must stake a minimum of £10 on your first bet (this is different to depositing £10)
• Your first bet must be on a selection or selections with odds greater than 1/2
• If placing an each-way bet, only the win part qualifies towards the £10 requirement
• You must use the code F20 when you sign up for an account
• Skrill, Neteller or Paysafecard deposits will not qualify
• New accounts only
• Free bets last for 30 days, after the 30 days they will expire
• Your free bet must be used in one transaction, you cannot split a £10 free bet

To clarify the each-way betting scenario, you would need to place a £20 each-way bet for that to qualify. So whilst the William Hill offer is not the largest amount (Ladbrokes offer £30) it doesn’t come with any dreaded wagering requirements (you can read more on wagering requirements on our home page) which should ensure a stress free introduction to this great betting site.

Other Promotions at William Hill

£5 Free Bet Every Week– At some online betting sites, the freebies soon dry up once you have exhausted the welcome offer but at William Hill they like to reward active players! Each and every week you can get a £5 free bet for the weekend’s action by staking £20 or more on football accumulators with at least 4 selections. The free bet is credited on a Friday, perfect for this year’s introduction of Premier League Friday night football.

Money Back If You Miss Out by One – Acca Insurance – Whilst we are on the subject of acca’s, William Hill understand how frustrating it is when your bet is let down by one selection. This is why the acca insurance was introduced. If you place a football accumulator of at least six teams and one match doesn’t go as planned then they will give you your stake back in the form of a free bet up to the value £50. Good stuff!

Enhanced Odds – We all love special offers don’t we? I must admit, I’m a bit of a value whore and I seek out bargains with the same zest as a fat guy seeks out kebabs. This is why I think the enhanced specials from William Hill are great. On selected events, you will see the price boosted and this can have a nice impact on the value of any winnings.

Cash in My Bet – Different sites have different names for this facility, I prefer to call it “cash out” and it is the ability to end your bet before the action has finished. The amount you are offered could be lower or higher than your initial stake and this depends on the current state of the event you are betting on. For example, I may have Wayne Rooney to score a hat-trick and I placed £10 at odds of 30/1. When the game is young, I may be offered £6 to cash in that bet. Rooney scores a goal and I am offered £20 to cash in, five minutes later he scores again and I am offered £150 to cash in. Remember at this point my bet is losing, after 75 minutes the score is still 2-0 and I start to see the offer being reduced to reflect the chances of this happening.

Super Sub -Your goal scorer bet is still on even if your player isn’t. I love this promotion!!! (three exclamation marks! You really do like this one – ED) I’ll be honest, I have really started to reduce my bets on the goal scorer markets for the exact reason why William Hill have introduced this offer. Too many times I have had a bet on a player to score only to see him fall to the floor and clutch his hamstring even before the manager has had time to sit down! £30 down the drain and my excitement for the game has gone. With Super Sub, your bet carries on to the player who has replaced the one that is substituted. The only reason this is not the best promotion of all time is due to the fact that it is for selected games only, fingers crossed that this excellent offer gets rolled out to more and more games.

Watch Live Greyhounds and Horse Racing for Free – I am struggling to think of any online sports betting company that is as involved with grassroots racing as much as William Hill (Ladbrokes would be close). The introduction of televised meetings totally revolutionised the bricks and mortar, high street bookies. William Hill continue this trend of innovation by allowing their customers to watch live greyhounds and horse racing for free. From 8am till midnight you can catch live commentary of UK & Irish racing, virtual racing, RP Greyhound TV races and even all the equestrian action from the US. This is great news for the armchair pundit and shows William Hill’s dedication to becoming the best online sports betting site.

Best Odds Guaranteed On Greyhounds and Horse Racing – I won’t spend too much time on this offer as most online betting sites do this and it is pretty much the norm now. However, if you are new to online bookies then a few words on the subject. It’s quite normal for the price of your selection to drift (get longer odds), this can be frustrating if you took a lower price. With the best odds guaranteed, if your selection wins and the SP (starting price) is higher than what you took, William Hill will pay out at the better odds.

Live Betting with William Hill

Unlike being in a high street bookmaker, online, it is now possible to place bets on an event whilst the event is taking place. This for the first time allows you to assess the action before you commit to a bet. If you see the normally dominant defender looking like he was at a nightclub till 5am then stick a pony on the opposition scoring the first goal!

Not that long ago, live betting (in-play) was only available for high profile, selected matches. Today however, pretty much everything can be bet on in-play. At the time of writing this, I can bet on the tennis with Steve Johnson v Andy Murray. If you like your obscure football bets then Aias Salaminas v Asteras Keratsiniou takes some beating and even US mainstream sports such as basketball and baseball can be the subject of your in-play bets.

I can’t fault William Hill’s live betting, it’s functional, easy to navigate and whilst it will not set the world on fire it is perfectly fine on both desktop and mobile devices.

Get Mobile with William Hill’s App

We mentioned in the 888sport review that the average person checks their mobile phone 85 times a day, personally I think they have underestimated that figure! If I had a pound for every cat meme that the Mrs tries to show me whilst I’m watching football, well I wouldn’t need to be visiting a bookmakers site, let me put it that way! I digress, let’s check out what the William Hill app offers;

Live Sport Scores: The William Hill app is great for seeing the latest racing and football results as well as updates on all things sport. You will see the football betting odds and results in real time. Great if you are stuck doing chores on a Saturday afternoon!

Full Account Management: Make secure deposits using the app, you can even request withdrawals whilst on the move.

Full In-play Market: You don’t need to be near a desktop or laptop computer to enjoy live betting, a couple of taps is all it takes to get your selections in.

Notifications on best prices and top bets: Enable push notifications to get the latest value deals sent direct to your mobile. If you are lucky enough to own an iWatch, this is now fully supported so you can check the latest deals discretely in the middle of those boring Monday meetings!

Payment Methods Accepted at William Hill

At many online sports bookmakers, you will find the minimum deposit amount is £10, at William Hill it’s a budget friendly £5 if you deposit using Visa, MasterCard or Maestro. This is ideal for that dreaded “too much month at the end of my pay packet” syndrome.

As you would expect from a site of this calibre, William Hill have a huge range of payment methods and you are likely to find one that you already have in your wallet.

We are great fans of PayPal for use at online gambling sites and not only do William Hill accept this method but they also accept other payment providers such as Skrill, Neteller, and paysafecard.

As mentioned in the intro to this review, as William Hill have such a great high street presence, it is possible to deposit into and withdraw from your William Hill online account by visiting a William Hill shop. When you request a withdrawal, choose William Hill Cashdirect and you will be given a 19 digit voucher number. Take this into a branch and they will exchange that code for cold hard cash! We love this, money in the account means nothing but cash in the hand means beer!

Support at William Hill

Support at William Hill is hidden at the bottom of the page, I wish companies wouldn’t do this. It’s fine for young, good looking people like you and I (and obviously blind – ED) but for the new generation of silver surfers out there, I am concerned that many would become frustrated and give up.

This is a shame as the support is good at William Hill, when you finally get to it!

You are initially directed to the usual FAQ section but within a click I could find all the contact information I needed. If you like to talk then you will find the UK Freephone number of 0800 0856 296 displayed, this number is also free when calling from a mobile so that is good news.

You can email support as well as tweet them and a method that is becoming quite rare in the age of the internet is the ability to send a letter, William Hill have an address in Gibraltar that you can write to.

Live chat is by far our preferred method of communication and as you would expect from this online gaming giant, all queries were answered very quickly and the support staff were very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful.