If your William Hill account has just been restricted, you’re probably in shock.
Many recreational bettors don’t realise this happens, but it’s way more common than the bookies would have you think. William Hill restricts betting accounts if they think you have a chance of beating them longer term. It’s the harsh reality.
In this article, I will explain why William Hill restrict betting accounts, how limits and restrictions are triggered and your best possible solution, depending on the situation.
Let’s get into it…
Note: The simplest solution is to get a betting Exchange account where you’ll never be limited again.
Why Does William Hill Stake Limit Bets?
William Hill restricted betting accounts and limited stakes because it makes them more money, it’s that simple
In most cases, they only restrict sports bets because they want you to carry on using the casino or games. To close your account would be foolish, as you just can’t win using those types of products (excluding a few very high turnover, low-margin strategies).
Take a look at the bet slip below. Being restricted to a payout of £1.25, you’re certainly not going to be making money anytime soon.
They know it’s not fair, although it is legal – which is why they do it.
I don’t believe William Hill close winning accounts unless it’s due to affordability checks and problem gambling. However, they may as well close your account if they’re going to stake limit you to pennies like this. It’s a kind of ‘stealth ban’ when you think about it.
The selection process they use is pretty cunning too…
How Does William Hill Decide Which Accounts to Restrict?
William Hill appears to use a value factoring system, like many other big betting brands.
The algorithms are designed to recognise when a customer is betting at value. This is very important to understand as it’s not necessarily about how much money you have won or lost. You could have lost lots of money on your account via a bad run of variance. However, William Hill knows that you will eventually come out on top and beat them. This is why their algorithms focus on value instead of profits.
By limiting Stakes they can limit the amount of value that you take.
To the average better this becomes confusing because some VIP customers will undoubtedly be allowed to bet Stakes of £2,000, £5,000 or even £10,000 at a time. The algorithm allows them to do this because their bets will be poor value (losers long term). There’s a video on YouTube here that explains the process many of the large betting brands use today.
In theory, this would also mean that if you suddenly change your betting activity to backing poor value selections, then William Hill could lift restriction limits.
Personally, I haven’t seen anybody who has done this successfully though, which would indicate their system works with a combination of value-taking and bottom-line profit.
What to Do if William Hill Refuse Paying Out:
In the modern world, bookmakers will do anything to refuse to pay out. William Hill included, as you can see from this article here reported in the Liverpool Echo where William Hill tried to avoid paying out based on a betting slip error.
The reality is; it was totally obvious which selection and event they had taken the customer’s money on.
In most cases, William Hill and companies like William Hill are simply hoping that the general public will not pursue such problems in the courts. They know it takes so much time, resource and money to do it. Again, it’s a dirty tactic to grind you down and avoid them being hit in the pocket…
If William Hill does refuse to pay out then I would advise following the process shared in the YouTube video below. There are specific processes in place to make a complaint and win a dispute against the bookmaker’s unfair behaviour.
I have to stress: you must follow the procedure and complete the early steps if you wish to succeed later on. In most cases, it takes less than 30 minutes.
William Hill Account Closure
If you experience these problems the best advice that I can give you is to close your William Hill account. Ask them to remove your data from all of their systems before opening an account with an exchange where they won’t limit or restrict you from making a profit.
By asking them to remove your data from their systems, you could be doing yourself a favour in the future. Often, these large betting firms buy out smaller firms meaning they can cross-reference you as a successful customer at a later date. Potentially affecting your betting activity in the future.
Obviously, this won’t get your betting account back, but it will give them a little extra work to do whilst preventing future problems. Unfortunately, there’s not much else you can do account closures and restrictions are commonplace in the betting industry today.
A Modern Problem
Unfortunately, the lawmakers that oversee William Hill checking procedures are consulting on how it’s done – and it’s not good.
They propose to put companies like William Hill in charge of affordability checks permanently. There’s not much a customer can do about it within the regulated market. Be sure to notify your MP and make a submission to the UK gambling commission if you have experienced problems like this. Limiting and restricting betting accounts is a murky business and they need to hear about it!
In the meantime, implement all the best practices shared throughout this article if you William Hill account is limited.
50 thoughts on “William Hill Account Restriction Problems: How to Proceed…”
Bookies are turds
Yup.
Every time I try an login it’s keeps saying either my email is wrong or it’s the wrong password so I go into there emails an change my password an it still says either the email or password is still wrong. How can it still be wrong when they keep sending me emails saying they’ve given me a £1 or 2 pound bonus 2 play with. What do I do cus I like playing there games
I placed a £400 winning bet at a local William hill bookies 17/10/23
After I went to receive my winnings I was told because I am a barred punter, I was not aloud to receive my winnings ( £1200).
I was advised to contact William hill head office.
I have been barred from all William hill as I sued them unsuccessfully in 2021.
What is my stance, ?
Can I claim my winnings or is it just refund of my stake??
I am getting exactly the same. I’ve spoken with multiple agents who give me a temp password but as soon as i try to chose my own password it says there’s been an issue. William Hill say it’s not an issue their end but clearly it is as im not the only one. My username & email say invalid, it’s so frustrating
£900 gambled in 8 years and £24k returns…answer that one bucko? and they have not banned me????
In good faith I put on EW bets on the grand national. My understanding is that the horse starts and finishes, you get paid.
William hill refused to pay my bet for 2 of my horses that past the post.
I stood to win just under £200. They changed there bet as soon as the race was won. I got a note stating they are not paying out on these bets. How much of a con is this once again William hill are crooks. The gambling commission should do something. This is year 2 now that they have committed
Fraud.
Ime with William Hill out of the blue they have restricted me from all free bet promotions they said it was something to do with safer gambling they are free bets but it’s OK that I spend money on normal betting I don’t get it
Its clear isn’t it? Lose only no freebies.
Exactly same thing happened to me beginning of October 2022. I can deposit, withdraw and bet/play normally, but all promotions ( expect silly bet boosts) are gone.
same happened to me they cant even tell me why or for how long
They were using the “Gambling Awareness Week” as a virtue signal to restrict people. Fuckers.
They’ve done the same to me
How did they restrict you for and do you have any limits on bet stakes?
Just had the same happen to me, they gave the same excuse after i won £100 of free bets on their freeforfour promotion, I only actually won £60 from those bets but a day later I was restricted from all promos. Why run a promo if you are then going to ban people for winning it???
Had exactly the same it’s usually when i win from free bets, when i ask why restricted they say they cant tell me why
Yeah man just happened to me, there ok to take my money on football and horses bet, they made out that I had betting addiction, im not a big better but removing your chance to use there free offers is shocking man
I won some money from some free spins , did a withdrawal request an got what was left up to 138 then I was locked out. I received a email saying I was able to use the service bit no bonuses or promotions
I sent I.d to verify now thee asking me to take a photo of me holding my passport, proof of address and my username written on piece of paper.
They are quite happy to accept deposits without being verified. What a scam
I have seeked legal advice about them not allowing promotions williamhills excuse for safer gambling.
Apologies with the experience Bernadette, and I’m afraid to inform you what I’ve checked here.
At the moment, this restriction is in line with our safer gambling commitments as we need to make sure everything’s ok and that you’re playing safely. It’s part of our commitment to keep gambling fun.
Rest-assured that your account has been reviewed and we’ll reach out to you should anything changes.
Legal advice said they are actually breaking the law as they taking money from people which is not safer gambling .
When promotions are free bets .
I have tried to resolve it with William Hill now there excuse is even worse . When I chat I got do certain times as I chatting to foreign country at certain times lol
Well I am going take it further if they can not give me a proper reason to there fraud
Could not make withdrawer after exhausting my shuttle. So disappointed
Need to flush william hill down the toilet, retricted me on free promotions also but take hundreds of pounds no problem. They are a toxic brand.
I have been restricted from all promotions for no reason whatsoever.
Same I’ve been restricted for no reason at all
Restricted from scratch of the day not on please sort and free for 6 I am a good customer with please look and reset this issue this morning
Won £70 at William Hill shop, went to pick up winnings and was told bet slip blocked and get in touch with head office, I rang and was told send an email with bet slip number they replied saying want my ID , this was 5 days a go, I’ve been emailing them and all they say is ” reviewing my ID and bet ” what the hell is going on with this pitiful company, as soon as I , eventually get my money I will kick off big time
I cannot even log into my account. Suspended due to ‘security reasons’. No other explanation. Been like this for nearly a month, with funds which I cannot withdraw as a result.
can william hill take winnings and pending transaactions out of your account i had over 700 on pendings and in account but they wanted me to verify if and adress and stuff which i done cos the account got locked asked me to send them in then i didn’t and now eveything has gone nothing can’t even see what bets have been placed looks like brand new account
Oh dear, getting lots of these right now. They can’t just confiscate the winnings, make sure you go to IBAS and complain to the UKGC. Give them the verification documents but you don’t have to with your bank statements.
won £26k playing roulette but now William hill are with holding my money for over a week now and I have spoken to safer gambling but still wont payout. its amazing how they don’t contact win lose but soon as you start to win they think you have a problem and then block the account and give you a £100 deposit limit but still wont pay out my £26k
They are trying to keep my winnings too. Any advise what to do ?
Has anyone ever experienced placing a bet believing they had extra places, to only find out they weren’t available in the shop(only online!) when you go to collect? I’m on lifetime self exclusion from online betting so couldn’t make the bet online but studied the form the night before influenced by the offer. Frustrating as I’m a very sensible punter these days, should I be penalised for it?
William hill are saying to Me to they restricted my account because I deposited £800 and staked 15k in roulette. I explained if this is true then in roulette you stake £30 and win 300 and go back and forth on roulette for the time your playing it. The guy i spoke to doesn’t understand roulette. I cant bothered with william hill as I can’t even log into my account. How do I get them to remove all my details from their system. I can’t be bothered with them anymore.
They won’t remove them entirely, even under GDPR. You can complain to the ICO and GC though.
it is possible that I will be blocked at gamestop uk on 07.11.2022 and wuilliam hell casino olinie not to check the account because I continued to play for 3 months and then I was blocked during that period I lost an amount of £10,000 I want my money back because I wasn’t allowed to play anymore because I was blocked by gamstop
I’ve had a W.Hill account (phone & online) since the 1980s. I am purely a leisure punter with very small bets on racing & football. Win a bit & lose a bit. Recently my account was closed. Via the online LiveChat I asked why this had happened and the only response was that there is a “ownership of the account” issue that failed to meet with their very high standards (??). No further discussion was offered. So that was it. Account closed! I am still puzzled by it all.
It will not let me in to play big baller why?
Same issue as everyone on here, banned from free spins, promotions, I suspect because I don’t use the account very often, sometimes football bets but nothing big. All William hill customer service say is rest assured there was a thourough review of your account, but we won’t tell you what that thourough review found! I suspect I annoyed them to much going to customer service when the spins would not load….. Astonishing, you only have to look at trust pilot to see that this is a common thread.
Have you contacted IBAS or the Gambling Commission?
Hello I want to withdraw my money from my account balance but theres been a restriction on my account how can I received my money from my account balance at William hill
Sorry to hear that, Leonard. Unfortunately the companies are allowed to run riot. I would recommend contacting IBAS and the UKGC.
I asked for help with their betting machine for a bet-to-get deal in a W Hill shop and received a prompt and courteous response. I then made the mistake of laying off the bet on Smarkets whilst still in-store. The manager looked over my shoulder but said nothing. The next day my account was closed. Coincidence?
I find that the best way to make money in sports betting is playing at serious betting parlours that accept winning players and betting exchanges online is not for me if had bad experience getting payed.
Won about $200 bucks before they restricted me for no reason. Then conveniently all the withdrawal options were removed. Talked to customer service and they said I was all good, verified and everything. Now I can’t even sign into my account, “Technical Issues”. They are a straight up scam site who hope you give up so they can keep your money
I have been restricted since beginning of September nobody told me or explained any thing to It is disgusting and I can’t get hold of William hill I have done nothing wrong
Unfortunately this is exactly how they behave…
yep – won £100 (10 x £10 bets) on Free or 4, which I turned into £200 cash which I withdrew, suddenly can’t access Free or 4 anymore !!!
Hi Caan,
Hills suspended my account a week ago after I incurred £2K losses on their casino website. Customer Services have informed me that their Safer Gambling Team took the action and that they want to speak to me about my account activity. They have my email and telephone number but have not contacted me. They have also blocked a withdrawal of £3K which I requested around the same time. I’m unsure of their motives but would like to know how long to wait before making a complaint or reaching out to IBAS. Thoughts?
Hi Bob, I would suggest chasing up the withdrawal and getting a reason for which it was blocked. Ask them why checks are being done on withdrawal as this is against their licensing conditions. If they ask for documents get them to state why; is it for 1. affordability 2. AML/proceeds of crime 3. commercial purposes. Then when you have the answer go to IBAS. If they say 1 it’s not law yet, if they say 2 then why do they they think you’re a criminal and why were deposits not blocked if they say 3 then that’s nothing to do with regulation and they need to give you the money. Just asking might resolve it.
Hi Caan,
Ten days on and still no explanation as to why my account has been suspended – other than the odd email stating the Safer Gambling Team “would like to speak with me”. Between Customer Services (which is limited to a poor online chat service) and the Safer Gambling Team I have been given the runaround. Their behaviour has been appalling and I will now be lodging an official complaint following the process outlined on their website. According to IBAS’s ToS they will not adjudicate unless “the Customer has followed the Operator’s internal complaints procedure…” Hills state this process can take up to eight week…sigh!
Yep, it’s ridiculous.