William Hill to trial £1k minimum bet guarantee on ITV races
HBF says its hopes the offer will inspire other firms to “provide a similar level of service to their customers”
William Hill has announced a new minimum bet guarantee offer allowing online customers to win up to £1,000 on ITV-televised races.
The operator said it will begin trialling the offer this week, with the guarantee kicking in at 10am on race day.
The firm will lay all bets to lose up to £1,000 online and £5,000 in shops.
Group Trading Director Terry Pattinson 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.”
For early bird customers prices will be available on all ITV races at the 5 day declaration stage so customers can choose to bet at the early prices or have a guaranteed minimum bet on raceday.
A Hills spokesperson told EGR the guarantee would “definitely not result in overrounds going up automatically”, with Hills “still betting to a competitive number”.
EGR understands the move is supported by trading teams and is also partially a response to the growing frustration among punters about restrictions.
Hills will also drop its promise to guarantee Pricewise selection prices, saying it no longer makes sense to trade prices that are 16 hours old.
The guarantee was welcomed by the Horseracing Bettors Forum, which has been lobbying for minimum bet liabilities (MBL) as part of its Betting Charter.
“The right to place a reasonable bet remains at the very heart of the aspirational nature of betting on racing, and Hills has set a solid precedent for those races which fall into the remit of the offer,” the group said in a statement.
“We hope and trust that the provision of a MBL will not impact on Hill’s ability to continue to offer competitive pricing on their UK racing markets, and we further look forward to the extension of this guarantee to a wider range of UK horse races in due course.
“The adoption of MBL across all UK horse races is an important step towards achieving Betting Charter recognition from HBF, and we believe this announcement lays down a challenge to other operators to provide a similar level of service to their customers.”