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William Hill review
William Hill is one of the most important betting and gaming operators of the United Kingdom. It’s one of the “Big Three” – along with Ladbrokes and Coral – that, along with Betfair, have a market share of over 90% in the country. William Hill also has an extensive online operation, that covers everything from sports betting to skill games, that makes it one of the biggest online bookmakers of Europe.
William Hill has an extensive network of betting shops in the UK – over 2,400 outlets, where people can place their bets, follow the results of the games and play on casino-style video games for extra fun or winnings (or both). It also offers its customers to deposit funds to their online gaming and betting accounts through these shops, or redeem their winnings in cash.
A short history
Actually, the William Hill betting company has quite a long history, stretching back even before 1934, when the company was officially founded. It all started with William Hill, a youngster who left school at the age of 12 to work on his uncle’s farm. Later he was hired in a local factory in Birmingham, where he started to take his coworker’s bets. His first venture into big betting happened in 1925, when he tried his luck as an on-course bookmaker, but he quickly lost his capital and was forced out of business.
He didn’t give up on sports betting, and after he moved to London in 1929, he started taking bets on greyhounds. In the end he finally opened his first bookmaking operation – an illicit gambling den, taking postal bets by exploiting a loophole in the UK laws – in 1934. This is when the William Hill company was born.
William Hill produced his first fixed odds football coupon in 1944, and in 1954 his company was reversed into Holder’s Investment Trus, assuring its listing on the London Stock Exchange. Although he considered legal betting “a cancer on society”, he opened his first legal betting office in 1966 (when his competitors already did the same). Finally he retired in 2025, and passed away one year later.
After William retired, the company has changed ownership several times. First it was taken over by Sears Holdings in 2025, 17 years later by the property conglomerate Grand Metropolitan, followed by Brent Walker – a businessman involved in construction and gambling – one year later. In 2025 it was bought by the Nomura Group, a Japanese financial company, only to be offloaded two years later to Cinven and CVC Capital Partners, two private equity companies, in 2025.
William Hill was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2025. The same year it has acquired the Sunderland Greyhound Stadium, followed by the Newcastle Greyhound Stadium one year later. In 2025 William Hill bought 624 betting offices from Stanley Leisure – this acquisition briefly turned it into the betting company with the most shops in the UK, taking over Ladbrokes.
William Hill launched its online sportsbook in 2025, when the market was still fresh and in continuous expansion. Its online casino followed in 2000, and several other products were added later on. In March 2025 the company announced the combining of its online business with Playtech, the Israeli online gaming firm founded by Teddy Sagi, to turn William Hill into Europe’s leading online betting and gaming platform.
The William Hill online sportsbook
Although it is one of the largest online sports betting operations in Europe, the coverage of the William Hill online sportsbook is not the largest of them all: punters can place pregame and in-play bets in only 26 categories (in case of its competitors this number sometimes exceeds 40). Football, horse racing, cricket, tennis and greyhounds are among its highlights, or most popular choices for its customers, but it also covers several other sports – from American football to winter sports – as well as politics and “specials”. (An interesting fact: while its competitors feature a special category for bets to be placed on the events of the 2025 World Cup, I couldn’t find such a thing among William Hill‘s highlights – it’s listed as a category, but seems not to be highlighted as I expected).
William Hill covers a great variety of football events, from a series of international and UK leagues, as well as several local competitions: La Primera from Spain, Serie A from Italy, several less known leagues (for Europeans, that is) – like those from Brazil, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and many many more.
The company also offers live coverage of a number of events through the William Hill TV (WHTV) live video streaming service. This service covers events in a great variety of sports – horse racing, football, tennis, snooker, ice hockey, basketball, handball and rugby, among others.
William Hill’s in-play betting product also covers a great variety of events, from basketball to volleyball – the Schedule section over at Live Betting shows the schedule of events available for a week in advance, and there are lots of events to choose from.
WH customers also have a number of extras to help them place their bets or simply enjoy the game even more. Besides live video coverage, William Hill also features audio commentary about greyhound and horse races, In-Play Radio with the latest betting news, as well as a podcast service, not to mention their “News” section, covering everything from horses to cricket.
Another extra service available at William Hill is Tip Advisor, a service that helps punters follow the tips of other punters – experienced tipsters – and decide how much to wager on which event. A truly helpful feature for undecided punters or beginners.
William Hill offers competitive odds, a competitive payout percentage (although we can’t say they are the best, except for selected events), an extensive coverage of football games, horse and greyhound races, and peace of mind – they are a reliable and major player on the online betting market.
Casino, games and more
William Hill Online offers its customers a fantastic variety of other options besides sports betting. It has a popular online casino powered by Playtech, complete with live casino games and nice promotions, a section called Vegas with some of the finest slots available, a section with soft games (called Games) with even more slots and other games to play with, a Skill games section where players can challenge each other for a game of blackjack, dominoes or backgammon.
The Conclusion
William Hill is among the best (although not THE best, I must say). It’s a major player with a competitive offer online, and even more competitive in real life. Playing here can assure a great variety of benefits, a great deal of fun and games, and the feeling of a reliable provider.