William Hill Introduce New Minimum Bet Guarantee

William Hill rolls out a new minimum bet guarantee this week which will allow customers to win up to £5,000 in store and £1,000 online on horse races which are shown live on ITV.

The bookmaker will initially trial the service starting from this week and the guarantee will be available from 10am onwards on the day of the race.

The trial will see William Hill shops lay customers to lose a minimum of £5,000 for win bets, meaning they will accept £5k liability. Online customers will be able to bet to win a minimum of £1,000 at the available price.

Customers have the choice of betting at the early prices which will be available on ITV races at the five day declaration stage or have the guaranteed minimum bet on the day of the race.

Terry Pattinson, group trading director at William Hill said:

“William Hill recognise that some customers are frustrated by not being able to get a sizeable bet on televised races, while we also want to ensure that early prices are there for our recreational customers and are not picked off by the few. We hope this offer appeals to both groups and the bet guarantee will apply to customers who may have been restricted in the past”

This news is welcomed by customers who have been frustrated by not having bets accepted due to stake restrictions and its introduction leads to the question as to whether or not a minimum bet law could be introduced.

In January of this year, MP’s discussed the option of a minimum bet law in a parliamentary seminar to deter operators from limiting bet stakes of customers. Currently, the decision to accept bets is down to the bookmakers discretion which has seen operators refuse bets from customers who are winning regularly.

Various bookmakers in Australia introduced a minimum bet rule on horse racing in 2014 and while the UK may not be at that stage yet, it is a positive move which is welcomed by the industry.

The operator is one of most popular bookmakers for horse racing and runs several horse racing offers such as 2Clear and High5. The current William Hill Free Bet for new customers is bet £10 and get £30 in free bets.