Hills launches retail bet tracking product

William Hill has launched a new product enabling customers to remotely track and cash out their in-shop bets, the latest initiative in the operator’s omni-channel strategy.

The William Hill Plus web app allows customers to track all bets placed via its proprietary self-service betting terminals (SSBTs), currently available in approximately 1,500 Hills shops.

The product will also include live scores and match stats, special shop offers and promotions, and a Plus card that customers can use to scan their bets and automatically upload them into their account.

Ian Ruddock, William Hill’s head of digital innovation for retail and omni-channel, described William Hill Plus as the “start of a new digital era” for its retail customers. “It’s not just about tracking bets, there is going to be a lot more to it,” he said.

“So we are trying to utilise all the benefits technology can bring but still let customers retain and enjoy all the social aspects and the experience of betting in shops. It brings a whole new level of excitement and interaction for customers who bet with us.”

William Hill Plus went live across a select number of shops earlier this month and is expected to launch in all shops containing the operator’s SSBTs within the next couple of weeks.

It was developed in collaboration between the operator’s newly-acquired Grande Parade team in Krakow, its head office in Leeds and digital division in Gibraltar.

Ruddock said the customer feedback of William Hill Plus had been “incredibly positive” so far and believed the operator had differentiated it from similar products in the market.

He said: “[Customers] really resent the fact they are forced to open an online account to be able to cash-in their bets. They really don’t like it.

“With some of the competitors there are only certain markets or coupons you can track bets on so sometimes they don’t often know if they can track it or cash-in their bet. So they said to us ‘just make it simple’, let us have the option to track and cash-in any bets we place.”

Ladbrokes also has a rival omni-channel product called The Grid, while in December Paddy Power launched its ONSIDE app on both iOS and Android.

However, Ruddock said that William Hill was unlikely to follow in the footsteps of Ladbrokes and Paddy Power by releasing a native application.

“With a native app, every time you make a change you have to release a whole new version and you are dependent upon the customers downloading the new version,” he said. “What you end up with is multiple versions across the country.”