WILLIAM HILL - YORK

Founded in 1934, William Hill is one of the best-known names in the gambling industry, providing gaming and betting services across three channels: online, on the high street and on the phone. We have been listed on the London Stock Exchange (WMH.L) since 2002 and employ over 16, 600 people in the UK, Ireland, Israel and Bulgaria. Our aim is to give our customers what they want, when they want it, where they want it. We are one of the UK's leading bookmakers, with a trusted high-street brand based on our in-depth knowledge of fixed-odds betting and our unrivalled customer service. With the advent of internet betting and gaming, we have extended our market-leading brand to a new generation of customers around the world.

In earlier times most gambling was done behind closed doors. When William Hill founded the company in 1934, the industry had no governing body, and bookies were not even legally obliged to pay a customer’s winning bet. This, of course, was a great business opportunity: William Hill built a reputation on being knowledgeable, honest and trustworthy. The company started out as a postal / telephone betting service where a punter would send a bet with a cheque weeks in advance of an event. In 1961, betting shops became legal, with William Hill joining the market in 1966. Shops were heavily regulated, however, to encourage people not to loiter. It was during this period that they got something of a reputation for being dens of iniquity with their blacked-out, closed windows, and murky, smoky atmosphere. With the arrival of television, however, betting became more of a leisure activity, with people spending time in betting shops to watch the races or the football. When the UK’s National Lottery began in 1994, placing a bet became a much more socially acceptable activity. As legislation changed, shops became bigger, lighter, and air conditioned, and started to include games as well as betting.