William Hill are one of the biggest companies out there, employing over 15,000 worldwide and have amassed a 25% share of the UK retail market with around 2,350 shops. They were founded in 1934 by William Hill who retired from the company in 1970. In the 1960s, after gambling was regulated in the UK, they opened their first shop and have since gone from strength to strength.

They have been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2002 and are one of the leading European online gaming businesses. Their website is available in 25 translated sites, they have a telebetting arm with close to one million customers and they are a huge, reputable and trustworthy bookmaker.

Like some of their fellow UK giants they cover a superb range of sports, 28 at the time of writing. Again, like their main competitors there is something of a UK focus, with football and racing the primary sports and the likes of tennis, greyhounds and snooker not far behind.

Having said that, they do cover US sports increasingly well and also cater for minority sports like hurling, volleyball and UFC. They also offer a huge number of markets on each sport, with big football matches having nearly 200, more than any of their rivals. Many of these are quite obscure, such as offering odds for a player to score once, twice and three times and various combination bets, such as a team to win, gain a certain number of corners and a certain number of yellow cards. These may not appeal to many bettors but other punters may view them as a nice addition.

In terms of odds they are reasonably standard due to the efficiency of their odds makers. Whilst they are unspectacular and rarely take a position on the favourites, they are never too far off the pace and for racing fans best odds guaranteed and other favourable terms increase the value. In addition they are usually happy to take large bets and do not limit winners too hastily.

Like their odds, the free bet for new customers is solid but unspectacular. It is a 100% match up to a maximum of 25 GBP and is a pleasingly simple offer. They also offer incentives for potential customers to sign up to their casino (150 GBP), poker (1250 GBP), 20 GBP (games), as well as further bonuses in the live casino, skill, bingo and financial suites.

In the sports book they offer best odds guaranteed on all UK and Irish horse and greyhound races, have a daily "Match Winner" promotion offering enhanced odds and/or terms on a big event each day and also frequently offer improved odds on horseracing multiples. Again, it is reasonable, but nothing to get too excited about.

William Hill's in-play console is absolutely superb, with as many events and markets covered as pretty much anywhere else. The interface is easy to use and comes with plenty of statistical support as well as streaming and/or commentary where applicable. You can easily see what events are live and which are to be covered up to a week in advance and placing a bet is very simple. Top marks for William!

Like the in-play service, mobile betting has its own tab on the main menu bar and is also a very good service. There are specific promotions for mobile bets, including insurance on accumulators and money back deals on 0-0 games and you can also use their casino on your phone. Access is through the usual choice of QR code online, registering through the site or entering the URL - mobile.williamhill.com - into your phone's browser.

Telephone: 0800 085 6296
Email: support@willhill.com.com
Address: William Hill Customer Service, 6/1 Waterport Place, Gibraltar
Other contact methods: Live chat

William Hill offer surprisingly lacklustre customer service. They tick many of the right boxes - their customer services team can be contacted 24/7, they offer live chat and they offer several different modes of communicating - but there is plenty of room for improvement.

The FAQ/help section is quite limited, one invariably has to queue to access live help and it's quite difficult to access a lot of the contact methods (for reference, live chat is found under "My account" when logged in).

William Hill have many things in their favour such as size, reputation and a huge range of markets. They also have a top notch in-play console and a fabulous website that differs slightly in layout to many but is better for it in our opinion. Despite offering a huge amount of information it is, on the whole, very easy to navigate. It is quick, easy on the eye and clearly separates events that are in-play from those that are not.

The reason this bookmaker gets marked down is that in several areas, namely the odds, the free bets and the customer services department there is a fair amount of room for improvement. They're not far off the mark though and all things considered we recommend them reasonably highly.