William Hill Successful with “Snow” Bets
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010As a testament to where gambling is going, players in the UK bet on snow. Anyone who lives in the UK knows that snow has been a distant memory for the country for years. They haven’t seen any in a long time. That’s why William Hill made news when it began taking bets on whether or now snow would fall on Christmas of 2009. It was a smart move because once they announced they were taking the bets, as many as 27,000 punters began wagering. They all put their money down on whether or not a single snowflake would grace the country on December the 25th. On Christmas Eve a spokesman for William Hill said, “We still expect to take a hit with snow in Scotland and Northern Ireland but are hopeful that London will miss out.”
In the end 15,000 people bet that snow would fall in London, although the forecast confirmed that the snow didn’t hit the capital. “We have potentially dodged a monster payout but we are still going to be watching Buckingham Palace like a hawk as just a flake or two will decide whether we are going to have a festive season or not,” said a William Hill spokesman. The wager on the snow is a sign of how far gambling has come. There was a time when bookkeepers were kept undercover and no one talked about it publicly. However, now, it was big news that they were taking the wages and the number of people betting shows how acceptable the practice is these days.
It’s much like the WSOP. It began over 30 years ago as five people around a table trying to have a fun night of poker play. Now, it’s a huge deal in the world of poker and broadcast live worldwide on ESPN. The event draws mainstream corporate sponsorship and the payouts are in the millions. The event is one of the most highly watched events throughout the ESPN year-long calendar. Just like poker, bookkeeping is gaining a mainstream acceptance in the world of gambling. For anyone who loves wagering, good things are surely to come in the near future.

