William Hill is the biggest betting brand in the world. in the UK alone, they have 2,325 betting establishments. They also operate an online casino site that is available in 10 languages and 24 currencies. It offers horses race gambling, financial betting casino, poker, bingo and arcade and skill games on one site and player account bank. As a company publicly-traded by the London Stock Exchange (WMH.L) It can be confirmed. In 2011, they served greater than 1.3 million gamblers, with revenues that exceeded PS146.5 million. What is the process that allows a company to grow to be this big? It all will be explained in the history of William Hill.
William Hill (founder) Born in 1903
William Hill’s story William Hill story begins with the 16th of July, 1903 birth of their founder, and namesake, William Hill. William Hill was born in Birmingham, England, the third child of a strict family. As a young boy, he attended Oldknow Road School before leaving to work at an uncle’s farm around the age of 12. Later, as young, was employed by BSA working in Birmingham. Perhaps irritated by his strict upbringing, overcrowded home, and working life when he was 16, Hill claimed to be 16 and got on a van to join the Black and Tans.
The story goes that William Hill developed a passion for bookmaking and horseracing at the age of just. While working with BSA work the horse was introduced to betting. While working with the Blacks and Tans they were stationed in Mallow, County Cork, Ireland. In Mallow, he spent the rest of his time betting at Moss’s pub. After returning from work after work, he worked in the bookmaking industry on a limited scale.
Hill’s first attempt at legal bookmaker was in 1925 when he was an on course bookmaker at Birmingham. Birmingham tracks. Due to his inability place a couple of large bets, Hill soon lost all his capital. After 1929, the entrepreneur moved to London to begin taking bets on greyhounds. This helped him save enough money to invest and then become a co-owner of Northolt Park Racetrack (that would be famous for its racetracks for pony).
William Hill (Company) Founded 1934
In 1934, William Hill opened his first off-track betting shop located in Park Lane, London. This was the start of the company that we know today as William Hill. At the time the cash bookmaking process was prohibited. Hill used a loophole in the law that required “credit only” betting. He made punters provide the checks (in person or via post) weeks in advance. They were cashed only after the event had taken place, making it fully legal, while also retaining legal recourse in the event of bounced checks.
Hill later continued to build his business on “trust”. At the time the gambling debts were not enforceable legally, and bookies weren’t required to pay punters legally. While there were many frauds, his business expanded to 500,000 customers by the 1960’s because of his reputation as a trustworthy businessman who pays winners.
The invention of fixed Odds Football Betting
The year 1944 was the time that William Hill became the first bookmaker to offer fixed odds on football bets. The story of Ladbrokes mentioned elsewhere is not always able to recognize his achievements. It is true that Ladbrokes is the very first UK licensed betting shop to offer fixed odds, however, William Hill was doing so as a credit bookmaker far earlier. In fact, court records suggest that he had a hand in Ladbrokes in the process, and he even filed a lawsuit against them in the early 1960’s for copying his ticket. Being the gentleman the man was, he sought for just PS1 damages plus costs, to which was granted by the House of Lords granted.
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William Hill as a Breeder
In the 1930s, William Hill had become the first ever self-made millionaire bookie. As he continued to build his bookmaking empire, he became passionate about breeding horses. He purchased a stud from Whitsbury within Hampshire during 1943 (Nimbus) which in 1949 was awarded the Two Thousand Guineas and Derby. In 1945, he bought the Sezincote stud in Gloucestershire which was the winner of the 1953 Derby. He also was a winner of the Classic using Cantelo at the time of the St. Leger and the Gimcrack Stake and Champagne Stake in 1958 with Be Careful.
William Hill the First Ever PLC Bookmaker
In 1954, William Hill moved his business to a shell company named Holder’s Investment Trust to secure an opportunity to be the first bookmaker that was publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange. Between 1955 and 1961, William Hill sold some of his shares at over PS5 million.
William Hill Personal Life
In order to explain William Hill’s recent move into the betting shop industry, it’s essential to look into his personal life. In 1923, William Hill got married Ivy Burley (nicknamed Daisy) who worked as a hairdresser in Birmingham. They had their first and sole child the following year, Kathleen Hill (nicknamed Bubbles) which later became Kathleen Lavinia after her marriage. She died at 37 years old. She died at the age of 37. Saint Leonard’s Parish Church of Whitsbury located near the track where he bought his first stud the present day, is adorned with the words:
“To the glory God” God and in loving memory of the daughter Kathleen Lavinia, Born 10th February 1924. She died on 27 Nov 1961. The church was rebuilt and renovated on the 27th of November 1963. William the Ivy Hill and William Ivy Hill”.
Hill was not a cash hungry, coldhearted bookie. During his lifetime, he trained and raced horses with a passion, took regular fishing trips, as well as played in youth cricket leagues that he sponsored. He was a religious Roman Catholic and Socialist. When the UK permitted betting establishments beginning on May 1 1961, he was openly scathing about betting shops. He went even as far as to call them a disease on society that sucks up the working man. He believed that betting was a pastime and was a form of competition only for those who could pay for it. He was a reputable bookmaker who earned millions times over the course of his life through hard work, trust, and running an honest business.
In the year 1966 betting shops were all over the UK that the traditional bookies were forced to adapt. Hill started investing into the gambling shop business empire we know today. In 1970, he took a break and passed away the next year.
The Ownership of William Hill’s Estate Following the Death of the Legendary
The day that William Hill died on October 16th 1971, the company was acquired by Sears Plc. Many William Hill history articles associate it with Sears Holdings Group that operates 4,000 retail stores under Sears and Kmart brand names. It’s not the same Sears. The Sears that acquired William Hill is a UK conglomerate within the retail shoes business. Their current brands include Barratts and Priceless Shoes. Under Sears control the company grew to over 1800 legal betting stores in 1988.
The year 1989 was when William Hill was purchased by Brent Walker. The same year, they became the official bookmaker for golf’s PGA European Tour with betting shops on the course. The 1990’s saw betting shops became more socially acceptable within the UK. They were no longer required to blackout their windows, and instead could display betting odds and advertising for the entire public to see. The law prohibiting the establishments from opening during the week on Sundays also canceled The ability to promote through newspapers and television, and on the radio was made available. Private Scratchcards were legalized and soon were available in William Hill establishments.
Since betting is now a mainstream activity, Walker cashed in, selling Nomura (Grand bookmaking companies) to CVC Partners for PS700m. The company was sold two times in the following year in 1999 Cinven along with CVC Partners for PS825 million. Finally, in 2002 William Hill was successfully listed in the London Stock Exchange for approximately PS1 billion.
William Hill Online
In 2000, William Hill launched an off-shore, phone-in betting shop. It used a call center in Athlone, Ireland, which took bets for William Hill International based in Antigua which had a tax rate of just 3 percent. In the same year, they became first UK bookmaker to allow tax-free betting on the Internet. It is interesting that despite being recognized by every bettors as William it was necessary to choose the domain willhill.com. That domain williamhill.com was already in use by the winery located in California. The winery shut down its use in the latter half of 2005. William Hill the bookmaker acquired the domain in 2009, rebranding the brand they had built.
As you can imagine, this was already the largest betting brand globally, and their expansion as an online business was a natural change. These days there are many betting sites in multiple languages however before William Hill entered the market fully in the year 2000, there were few. They already were popular across the world and were the most popular bookmaker within the UK. The company’s growth was rapid after they the company was established in 2000, and they now support English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Norwegian in addition to Finnish languages. Then, in the late 2000s there was an addition of an online casino and later the poker rooms online was added in 2003. On April 17, 2002, William Hill signed a deal with the British Horseracing Board for the commercial use of race data. This made full racing data accessible on their website.
After a successful flotation on the London Stock Exchange in 2002 several acquisitions followed. In September of 2002 William Hill purchased Sunderland Greyhound Stadium. In March of 2003, Brough Park Greyhound Stadium was added. In 2005, it purchased 624 betting outlets in the form of Stanley Leisure for PS504 million and was forced to sell 78 of them due to an anti-competitive practice decision. In 2008, it entered into partnership with the largest casino software company and poker operating network, Playtech.
As we mentioned earlier, William Hill remains the world’s largest betting brand. It is accessible in 24 languages, it supports 10 currencies and it supports sports and horse race betting, financial betting bingo, casino, poker game, skill games, and arcade games. This is certainly one of the safest and most well-regulated websites available to gamblers on the internet.