British bookmaker William Hill has signed a partnership with the Football Association that sees it become Official Supporter and Betting Partner. The two-and-a-half year deal is the “first of its type for the betting industry” and comes into effect on January 7th. The terms of the contract see William Hill as the “Official Supporter” of the England national side and both Official Supporter” and “Official Betting Partner” of the FA Cup. We just hope for Mrs Topping’s sake it doesn’t mean Ralph has to buy the shirt of every side taking part. That’d be quite the trip to the launderette. Henry Birch Chief Executive Officer of williamhill.com commented: “The deal with The FA is an excellent one for williamhill.com as it provides us with a strong platform for our brands and products both in the UK and internationally.”
There’s no doubting this deal is a huge one given the attraction of the FA Cup and rich history that it shares with the population of the UK. The England team deal running until the World Cup in 2014 means Hills will get increased exposure – if the team qualifies of course!
Betfred has picked up Callcredit Information Group as a new partner for its online operations. The bookie will utilize the group’s CallValidate software to verify online customers by confirming payment and identity details. Dennis Luckett, head of fraud prevention, risk and payments at Betfred, said: “Callcredit have given us the one missing ingredient from our customer checking solutions – online credit and debit card verification. Merging this into our existing checks gives us a fully balanced check on all our UK customers.”
The automatic system also covers pre-paid and non-UK payment cards and will cut the time taken for Betfred to carry out the laborious verification process.
Betfair has added ante post markets and US racing to its mobile racing app. A tweet from @Betfair confirmed the update can be obtained for the app and that the firm’s mobile racing site, at timeform.betfair.com, will be updated at the same time.
