William Hill Collaborates with MasterCard, Introduces “Priority Access Card”
UK’s leading land and online bookmaker William Hill recently rolled out a Mastercard payment processing method called “Priority Access.” Touted as a first in the industry, the method uses a prepaid MasterCard called Priority Access Card. It gives William Hill (WH) customers immediate and unrestricted access to their WH winnings, since they no longer have to observe the customary three to five-day waiting period when transacting withdrawals from their WH betting account.
Actually, the waiting time ordinarily observed when processing withdrawals using other payment methods, is the period allotted for banks and payment processors to process a withdrawal transaction between them. The Priority Access Card eliminates the delay by linking directly a WH customer’s online betting account to the bank unit from whence the fund requested will be drawn. That way, any winnings gained from a bet placed at William Hill becomes instantly available, and accessible to take out or spend at any establishment or ATM machine accepting MasterCard transactions.
The Priority Access Card works like a prepaid or debit card account that has been funded directly with the winnings collected from the bookmaker. A William Hill betting experience therefore is instantly gratifying, since a customer will be able to withdraw or spend the money in no time at all.
In light of such an arrangement, it is understood that users of this MasterCard payment facility can only withdraw amounts they deposited or won from bets. This ensures that WH customers will not spend or take out money on credit. Withdrawal transactions exceeding the funds available in one’s William Hill betting account will be declined. Still, the Priority Access Card can be used to satisfy partial payment if the cost of the item/s purchased exceeds the available balance. Provided however that the difference will be paid in full by the cardholder-purchaser, using cash or another acceptable debit or credit card.
Some Key Terms and Conditions in the Use of the Priority Access Card
The terms and conditions in the use of the William Hill-Priority Access MasterCard specifically state that the card is not a charge or credit card, nor a cheque gurantee as it is not linked to any bank deposit account. Neither can it be used as proof of identity nor used for prepayment arrangements that authorise merchants to collect regular or periodic fees via the MasterCard Priority Access facility.
The card is also not available to use in circumstances when, and where there is no Internet connection that will permit the system to secure the cardholder’s authorisation for the transaction, as well as verify the cardholder’s available balance.
Use of the card is subject to fees, charges and limits as listed in the terms and conditions. Other charges or taxes, including bank and ATM transaction fees that may exist and related to the use of the Priority Access card are not included in the list of charges imposed or collected by William Hill.
In announcing the rollout of the William Hill Priority Access Card offering, Jamie Hart, the Director of Innovation and Customer Experience at William Hill remarked that It is time for betting businesses to embrace fully, the omni-channel experiences as means of meeting the demand of customers. Mr. Hart added that they are excited about the greater possibilities that the Priority Access Card will create once it becomes widely adopted by customers, since so far, they have received extremely positive feedback from the card’s pilot run.