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It is hard to believe it now but there was once a time when betting was illegal and only occurred behind closed doors. William Hill was one of the forerunners of betting shops, setting up his own company in 1934 at a time when there was no gambling governing body and bookies were not even obliged to pay a customer their winnings! What made William Hill great was the fact that he capitalised on this, making a name for himself by being honest and trustworthy - sentiments still very much adhered to by the company today. William Hill started out as a phone/postal betting service where the punter would ring up and place their bet and send in their cheque before the event took place. Betting shops became legal in 1961 and William Hill joined them in 1966. They started out with bad reputations - their blacked out windows and smoky atmosphere made people refer to them as 'dens of iniquity', but television soon changed all that. Television changed the perceptions that a lot of people had regarding gambling and many more people got involved with betting shops - going along to watch football or racing on the television in the company of others. William Hill retired in 1970 and died in 1971, and the William Hill Organisation became part of the Sears Holdings Group. The arrival of the National Lottery completely changed the view of gambling, with the placing of bets becoming a household activity. In 1988 Grand Metropolitan who own Mecca Bookmakers acquired William Hill, merging the two companies under the William Hill name. In 1989 William Hill were appointed Official Bookmakers to the European PGA Tour and were represented at major events. 1995 saw the law changing to enable betting shops to open on a Sunday, allowed them to have 'normal' windows which could display lists of odds and bets, and refreshments were permitted. In 1997 things moved on even more when the location of betting shops were allowed to be advertised in telephone directories and newspapers, and it was also in 1997 that William Hill was purchased by Nomura (Grand Bookmaking Companies) for £700 million. In 1998 William Hill were the first betting organisation to launch an online betting website. Online gambling has changed the face of the industry bringing with it new young customers, new games and a whole new ease of accessibility. Even though some state that online gambling is 'faceless' William Hill still maintain high standards of honesty and trustworthiness, which is witnessed by their millions of customers each year. In 2000 William Hill used the internet to offer a tax and deduction free betting service to UK. Also in 2000 William Hill launched a telephone betting service for foreign punters, based in Athlone, Ireland. The service takes calls from international customers and passes them on for acceptance to William Hill International in Antigua. In 2002 William Hill signed a five year deal with the British Horseracing Board for the commercial use of their data in their 1500 betting shops in the UK.
Read more about William Hill and their relationship with the Grand National horse race at www.grand-national.me.uk, including reviews of the Will Hill service and guide to picking winners in the National.
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