William Hill Aus negates in-play ban with 'Click to Call'

William Hill Australia customers can now place in-play bets online for the first time following the launch of the operator’s new ‘Click to Call’ feature, a product designed to work around the country’s live betting ban.

The industry-first product, which was launched last week on both WilliamHill.com.au and TomWaterhouse.com.au, enables punters to bet on in-play events online in a matter of seconds.

Under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, Australian betting operators are currently prohibited from providing online betting during live sports and can only accept wagers placed over the phone.

However, William Hill Australia hailed what it described as a “live betting revolution” and believes its ‘Click to Call’ feature is well within the parameters of the law.

Use of the feature requires the customer to allow the operator’s website access to the computer’s microphone, after which the customer can select a market via the website’s live betting tab, make a selection and click ‘Call to Place Live Bet’ in the betting slip.

Once connected to the operator, customers are then prompted to either confirm the bet, cancel the call, or replay the audio options and odds of the bet.

“Here at William Hill Australia we place the customer at the very heart of our innovation,” Chris Griggs, head of customer experience at William Hill Australia, told eGaming Review this morning.

“Click to Call provides the speed and simplicity to place bets on live sport that, until now, has been missing in the industry and will be the first in a long line of new product initiatives,” he added.

The product is available to use on desktop via Google Chrome and Firefox web browsers and the majority of all non-Apple mobile platforms with plans to roll-out the functionality on Android and native iOS apps later this year.