Sripradha biography of william hill

For many this is the first name in gambling: Growing up in the days before the arrival of the Internet, William Hill betting shops were prevalent on British High Streets and those of a certain age who still like to bet online would have almost certainly used one of their shops at some point. The company was founded in by a Mr William Hill himself and in the days before the industry was fully legalised, the official history states that it was set up as a telephone and postal service only and certainly that would have been a main focus of the operation at that time.

William Hill, like many of his contemporaries, started out in bookmaking at a young age and while working as an apprentice at the BSA motorcycle factory during World War I, he would drive around and collect bets on his bike. Once the war had ended, Hill began to take his bookmaking activities more seriously.

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He set up at race courses but at that point he was some way out of his depth — taking on professional punters and losing a ton of money! As William Hill began to get a better grasp on his activities, he started all over again and some successful trading allowed him to move offices to London. In , a new creation was introduced as Hill produced the first fixed odds football coupon and a separate football area of the company was established.

Betting shops were legalised in the UK in May and by this stage, the practise of placing a bet became more open. While betting had still thrived despite the rules, this meant a natural explosion with a new wave of customers happy to come on board now that it was no longer outlawed. It is said that Mr Hill himself — a committed socialist — was concerned about the distractions that betting shops would bring to the working man.

However, it was at that time that the direct battle with Ladbrokes was being lost. William Hill has, himself, been the driving force behind the company and continued to move things forward. He retired as late at , after more than five decades in the industry before he passed away in From onwards, the company changed hands, originally being acquired by Sears Holdings before Grand Metropolitan took over the reins in A year later, Brent Walker acquired the business and ran William Hill for eight years and the company continued to build its list of betting shops until a revolution changed the way we all place our bets.