Safer gambling

Safe might sound boring. But in gambling, it’s the exact opposite – it’s what keeps betting and gaming enjoyable.

We do everything we can to ensure that every person uses our services safely and responsibly. From developing technology that better identifies people at risk to improving our protection of under-18s and vulnerable people from exposure to gambling adverts, we’re constantly pushing to make our business safer. As a founding member of the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), we’re also working with other BGC members to raise industry safety standards, whether it’s through Safer Gambling Commitments or industry working groups.

As campaigners for player safety, William Hill welcomed the Gambling Act Review, which the Government launched in 2020. Our industry is more committed than ever to keeping gambling as safe as possible and we need to continue raising those standards. We continue to be actively engaged with the Government to guide customers, and colleagues and ensure that any new regulations work alongside the development of the gambling industry.

We think it’s important that the review is evidence-led and that it protects the vulnerable whilst allowing millions who happily place the occasional bet to continue to enjoy our services. It’s also vital that it takes a critical look at the growing risks of the black market where there are no consumer protections.

 

 

Key performance measures

 

Objective	Measures	2020	2019	2018	Comments
Encourage safer gambling by all customers	% of online UK customers using deposit limits	42%	32%	18%	Year-on-year comparison is not possible due to change in methodology. 2020 includes William Hill Gibraltar + Mr Green + Evoke.
Protect the vulnerable	Number of safer gambling interactions (William Hill UK)	Retail 24,644 Online 877,872	Retail 33,789 Online 200,771	Retail 41,837 Online 36,758	William Hill took a proactive approach to customer interaction given the Covid-19 backdrop and our approach to continual improvement. This resulted in a very significant increase in total number of customer interactions online. It also led to an increase in retail, relative to the number of trading days (taking into account Covid-19 shop closures).
	Number of self-exclusions excl. via multi-operator schemes (William Hill UK)	Retail 4,784 Online 102,596	Retail 8,794 Online 85,803	Retail 10,890 Online 38,913	Number of customers self-excluding directly from William Hill Retail was impacted by Covid-19 shop closures. Rise in online self-exclusions driven by significant increase in safer gambling messages providing information to customers about the tools available.