William Hill History

William Hill started life in 1934 when gambling was illegal in the UK. A man, actually called William Hill, founded the company, back in the day when there was no regulation and no comeback. Originally William Hill was a postal service – people would send their bet along with a cheque weeks in advance of a sporting event.William Hill used as his USP a trust based operation, promising fair and timely payouts for winning bets.

Over time the company built a reputation for being honest, knowledgeable and trustworthy,

In 1961, betting shops became legal, and William Hill opened its first shop in 1966. Shops were heavily regulated to stop people from loitering, and the blacked out windows and smoky atmosphere contributed to the old image of a bookmakers. Since those days, William Hill has expanded massively and now has over 2300 UK wide licensed betting offices and emplys over 16,600 people.

These shops are much brighter, with clear windows, lower tills, and a range of gaming machines as well as the typical opportunities to bet.

In 2004 Willliam Hill operated its own TV channel. This lasted for two years, before they folded it. They now provide their own content to the stores from one of its offices in Leeds, and runs in tandem to its radio output, both of which are broadcast instore.

Although William Hill had an online presence in the early 2000’s, it wasn’t really a focal point of the business and as such they let their rivals Ladbrokes dominate the online arena. This started to chance in 2008 when William Hill went into partnership with Playtech -  a supplier of online casino games, and from there William Hill launched William Hill online, featuring not only a fully comprehensive online bookmakers, but also world beating and market leading online casinos, online poker and online bingo operations.

Now, William Hill is one of the most successful and forward thinking gaming operations in the world. It is fully listed and licensed and is also quoted on the UK stock exchange. All players are protected under their license in the unlikely event that anything ever happened to the company.