William Hill Review

Because I have a lot of really nice things to say about the site, its parent company, and their betting services, I'd like to start my introduction to William Hill with the things I don't like.

The site's layout is disorienting. Go ahead, point your browser to the site and click around the different sections. Even the game categories are weird. What the heck is the category called "Vegas" all about? How is it different from the "Casino" tab? Why are "scratchcards" given a category all their own? Are we meant to think of lotto-style scratchers as being on the same level as poker and sports betting? It looks to me like William Hill is somehow still having growing pains after switching to the Playtech casino game platform in 2009.

Promotions are not a priority. You may not be that big on bonuses and other promos, but a ton of players are, myself included. I like that as a blackjack player I can pretty easily earn $10 in free bets after my first deposit, but after that, I'm not sure I'd ever see a reload offer, since none is available at this time. I see nothing in the way of a referral program, and what bonuses are available seem to have tougher-than-average rollover requirements.

Questions exist about William Hill's affiliations with rogue betting sites. The site inherited some rogue operators when it made a huge deal with Playtech in 2009. Some sites are still up, giving WillHill heck about this issue, but as far as I can tell, the whole thing was resolved a few years ago and had nothing to do with this specific sportsbook/casino's operations.

And now for the William Hill features I do like:

The site and its games are extremely easy to access. WillHill gives customers access to bets and games four different ways: online, via mobile, via text, and by phone. The site's customer service and software are available in twenty-four languages (listed below in the Customer Service review).

The site is operated by a reputable business. William Hill is a household name in its native United Kingdom. The company has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2002 as part of the exclusive FTSE 250 index of the highest-grossing UK-based companies. WillHill reported revenue of more than $1.5 billion in 2014. The entire past calendar year has seen the company make big financial gains, to the point that its stock price is higher at the time of this review than it's ever been.

WillHill's sportsbook has one of the most impressive lists of available markets I've seen. I've put a list together of all available bets at my last visit in the Sports Betting section just below, so look for yourself.

Here is an overview of each section of William Hill's gambling options.

William Hill operates a different promotional program for each of its major forms of betting. Rather than list the dozens of niche-market bonuses available at the time of this review, I've decided to share links to each promotions page:

Check the list of current sportsbook bonuses here.

Check the list of current casino bonuses here.

Check the list of current poker bonuses here.

Check the list of current bingo bonuses here.

For details on bonus terms and conditions, check William Hill's T&C page here.

Because this company does business with millions of people from all over the world, they authorize a number of withdrawal and deposit methods. Banking is a little different in different parts of the world, and the cosmopolitan set of banking options at WillHill is a reflection of that fact.

Rather than list all forty-two methods accepted as of this review. Instead, I'll share ten of the most popular, along with a few facts about them, taken directly from WillHill's own cashier landing page. See that page for all current available funds transfer methods.

SportsbookReview gives the sports betting section of WillHill an overall "A" rating, based on the size of the company and its holdings, its customer base, overwhelming number of good reviews, and a lack of any funny business on the customer service and payouts end of things.

I count thirty-one different ways to place sports-style wagers, including some real oddballs like lottery betting, political and entertainment futures, and virtual sports.

Here's that long list of markets that I promised:

William Hill is a UK company, advertising in the UK to a mostly British customer base, so clearly there's going to be major emphasis on spots popular in England, Scotland, and Wales. But professional and amateur US sports make the list, as do up-and-comers like e-sports and UFC/MMA. It's nice to see a list of available markets that doesn't plainly emphasize one canon of sports more than another.

It's important for sports bettors thinking of doing business with WillHill to understand how their betting maximums work. Rather than limiting the size of your wager, the site limits how much you stand to win. This is especially true in the sportsbook, racebook, and virtual sports wagering section.

How does it work? A new sportsbook customer is limited to winnings of $10,000, which means you can only bet $10 on a 1,000 to 1 proposition, or up to $1,000 on a 10 to 1 prospect.

I know for sure that limits can be increased – I read it in several reviews and customer comments on forums and message boards. I haven't experienced it for myself, and I can't tell you how it works exactly, but I imagine that big spenders will find themselves suddenly able to chase a win of more than $10,000 after a couple of generous losses.

The Financials section of WillHill is where bettors can "trade" (read: bet) on foreign currency markets, commodities, and popular market indices.

The site has a special download-only interface available for this form of betting. Called WillHill Day Trader, the application gives bettors access to "132 betting opportunities" daily, and allows for traditional as well as binary betting. Day Trader also promises interactive charts and graphs, regular updates from markets around the world, and news and tips for financials betting from experts.

At the time of my visit, the site was offering financial bettors a first-time deposit bonus of $25 in free wagers.

The best thing I can say about the casino gambling options at William Hill is that plenty of casino games are available. The library is large, and includes one of the biggest mobile libraries I've reviewed yet, as well as a long list of live dealer-capable titles and mobile exclusives.

What I don't like about the casino games in the site's library – they were all designed by Playtech. I'm not really down on Playtech in particular, I just don't like when a site (especially a big one like WillHill) refuses to vary up their offerings. It makes more sense to pick and choose from a variety of platforms – I enjoy most of Playtech's casino games, for instance, but not their slots.

Here is a breakdown of each of the game categories collected under the site's Casino tab:

Table Games is a weird name for this category. Out of the nineteen titles listed, fifteen are variations on the classic game of roulette. I like roulette as much as the next guy, but I'm not sure anyone needs fifteen different versions of it, especially since it's a pretty simple game. The other titles are craps, Sic Bo, and two blackjack variants.

Card Games is where you'll find classic casino games using cards rather than other props like a roulette wheel. It's a nice collection of titles, because it's the first with any real variety, but I still think it's a bit heavy on one or two games (with a ton of weird variants) rather than a true cross-section of popular casino-style card games.

Here's the full list of titles currently classified as card games at WillHill:

• Double Attack Blackjack
• American Blackjack
• Blackjack Super 21
• Perfect Blackjack
• UK Blackjack
• Blackjack
• Baccarat
• Caribbean Stud
• Casino Hold 'Em
• Tequila Poker
• Blackjack Switch
• Pai Gow Poker
• Blackjack Surrender
• Wild Viking
• Red Dog
• Progressive Blackjack
• Pontoon
• Stravaganza
• 21 Duel Blackjack
• Lucky Blackjack
• Progressive Baccarat

Slots is the section where the site hosts its online slot titles. Playtech, the design firm that produced all these titles, has a huge collection of slot games to offer its licensees. It looks like William Hill licensed every available title – the slot collection is huge.

WillHill breaks up their complete slot library (made up of nearly 200 different titles) into a variety of categories, by the number of lines, special features, and game complexity. Missing from this list – licensed titles, which are popular all over the world, and which Playtech is not known for. I also find the progressive selection to be lacking compared to competitor sites.

Video Poker gathers all the site's video poker style games under one heading. Here's the full list of video poker variants available in WillHill's casino:

• Jacks or Better Multi-Hand
• Jacks or Better
• Aces & Faces
• 10’s Or Better
• Deuces Wild
• 4-Line Jacks or Better
• 10-Line Jacks or Better
• 25-Line Aces & Faces
• 50-Line Jacks or Better
• Joker Poker
• 4-Line Aces & Faces
• MegaJacks
• 2 Ways Royal
• 4-Line Deuces Wild
• All American
• 50-Line Joker Poker
• Hold'em Showdown

Surprisingly, this is the newest section added to William Hill's gaming library.

It's surprising because scratch-off lottery cards have been popular all over the world for some three decades. Why the sudden turn to these niche products? I'm not a fan of scratch cards in real life, so I can't even imagine spending time or money online playing virtual versions, but apparently there is a market for this type of betting. The addition of new scratch card products to this game library is an indication of that.

The site currently offers fourteen different scratch cards, but the game play is almost identical no matter which product you choose. The only differences between the different cards are the symbols used and the prize packages. I got so bored after a few minutes of pretend money play that I wandered off to another section.

I should mention that WillHill offers a special Scratch Cards bonus, promising refunds on losing scratch cards up to a limit of $5 on each loss, but the terms and conditions associated are atrocious.

William Hill's poker room is part of the iPoker network, which boasted a twenty-four hour average of 2,600 or so cash players, which is enough to make it the fourth-busiest network or site in the world.

I found a couple of different opinions about the quality of competition on the iPoker network. Some say that because of the prominent sportsbook facilities on site at WillHill, bettors from the sports and casino sections tend to wander into the poker rooms and get slaughtered. These reviewers say you'll find plenty of wild and loose play all over the site. This is apparently particularly true in microstakes games.

I liked the way the poker software looks – which was a rare occurrence for me on any William Hill platform. Games offered are:

• Texas Hold'em
• Omaha
• Omaha Hi-Lo
• Seven-Card Stud
• Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo
• Five-Card Stud

William Hill offers new poker players a special $75 gift bag when they deposit $25 or more. A first-time deposit match bonus is also available, a 200% bonus worth up to $1,200. Check the terms and conditions for all poker bonuses at this page..

Customer support is available in the following languages:

I haven't seen a lineup of European languages that diverse in about a decade, going back to when WillHill was (at one time) available in Magyar, a language spoken by only a few thousand people. While support for Magyar is gone, it's fun to see other obscure European tongues still going strong – I'm looking at you, Slovenian.

Everything else you need to know to get help from William Hill's customer support staff is available at the site's "player support centre."

Phone support is available around the clock at the following numbers:

• Casino customers in the UK: 08000149469
• Poker players in the UK: 1-800-014-9470

Some members will need different numbers based on where they live, and that information is available at the player support centre link listed above.

You can send an email for customer support via this online form or by sending an email to any of the following addresses:

• Casino customers: [email protected]
• Poker players: [email protected]
• Sportsbook customers: [email protected]

Live chat with customer support staff is also available around the clock.

Contact William Hill through the post at this address:

William Hill Online 6/1 Waterport Place Gibraltar

William Hill is one of the best-known names in betting in the UK and throughout Europe. The site has millions of customers in countries all over the world, handing out billions in dollars in winnings every year, with very little to complain about in the way of customer service issues.

The only downsides, in my opinion, are the lack of access for American customers, and a confusing user interface that tended to overwhelm me with choice. That's not a terrible problem to have, I know, but it still made using the site a bit of a chore, especially in its way-too-busy mobile incarnation.

I don't think the bonuses available at the time of this review are all that exciting. I didn't see a traditional deposit match bonus at all, which seems like a strange move for a modern online casino. I'm not in love with the site's casino gaming options, either, except to say that I'm impressed with the sheer variety of titles (including lots of mobile-exclusive games) they make available to mobile bettors.