William Hill this week launched a payment service that takes advantage of its combination of online gaming and physical betting shops.
U.K. bookmaker calls the new service "QuickCash." It allows customers to deposit money into their accounts at one of the 1,500 William Hill betting shops and receive a printed voucher.
When a customer wants to bet online, he goes to williamhill.co.uk and enter the security code printed on the voucher. He is then authorized to bet on the Web site. When the customer is done, he prints out another voucher and takes it back to the betting shop to either collect winnings or cash out.
Brenda Hammonds, marketing manager for William Hill, said the service targets the population of people who are not comfortable using their credit cards or debit cards to bet online.
"We have achieved the first true integration of online and off-line betting," said Peter Nolan, William Hill's marketing manager, in a press release. "We are offering both new and old customers a simple and secure method of using 'cash' for Internet betting. This system is perfect for customers who want to bet in cash using the 24-7 convenience of the Web."
Smart Voucher, the creator of Switch, a popular debit card in the U.K., developed the payment system. Scott Thompson, chief executive of Smart Voucher, said QuickCash has been in the making for two years. William Hill is the first betting company to use it and he expects to sign up more gaming companies in the future.