.williamhill

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Status:	Proposed
Registry Provider:	Neustar
Type:	Brand TLD
Priority #:	965 - William Hill Organization Limited

.williamhill is a Brand TLD being proposed in ICANN's New gTLD Program. The applicant is William Hill Organization Limited.

Application Details

The following is excerpted from the applicant's response to question #18:

"William Hill is the UKʹs leading bookmaker and one of the most recognised and trusted brands in the gambling industry, providing gaming and betting services across multiple channels: online, on the high street, on the phone and on the move. We have been listed on the London Stock Exchange (WMH.L) since 2002 and employ over 15,000 people in the UK, Gibraltar, Israel and Bulgaria.

Our aim is to give our customers what they want, when they want it, where they want it. Well-known for our 75-year sports-betting heritage, we also offer a full range of gaming products. We are continuously evolving our product range to meet the changing demands of a wide and diverse customer base looking for an exciting and entertaining gambling experience.

Our international expansion strategy is led by William Hill Online, with online being the quickest and most cost-effective route to reach customers in new markets. Since it was established in December 2008, William Hill Online has focused on developing market-leading sports-betting alongside high-quality, competitive gaming. We aim to grow our UK market share and to expand into new territories, particularly in Europe, using our strong brand name, sports-betting knowledge, market-leading gaming products and marketing expertise. Looking ahead, key themes for this business will include the nature and scope of emerging regulation, market by market. Legal frameworks for online gambling are now being established in a number of marketplaces. Market liberalisation offers new growth opportunities for regulated businesses such as William Hill Online, enabling us to advertise locally for the first time, which allows long-term brand-building.

We aim to be at the forefront of technology and extending our service to new platforms and devices. In Retail, we combine leading-edge hardware with competitive games in our offering of gaming machines. This is complemented on the sports-betting side with technology such as self-service betting terminals which give customers access to the wide array of betting opportunities. In Online, we are extending into new markets such as financial betting and a wide range of in-play betting. We are also using technological developments in mobile betting to enable customers to access our products in a fast, efficient and tailored way.

We are seriously protecting William Hill’s trusted and widely recognised brand

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The mission and purpose of this TLD is to provide a global, consistent identity on the Internet of .williamhill and all related institutions. As such, .williamhill intends to limit registration of domains either for its exclusive use or for use by closely affiliated organizations in a manner that contributes to the purpose of this TLD. .williamhill also intends to govern the domain names registered to limit confusion and enhance user experience. To accomplish these objectives, .williamhill may be the sole registrant of domains in the TLD. However, due consideration has been made to all aspects of registry operations including the functions and policies defined throughout this application."