The UK gambling market is one of the most competitive in the world and there are plenty of opportunities for bettors to find gambling action. The UK government has deregulated gambling so that almost all forms of gambling are legal and private operators compete for the players’ action.
Sports Betting in the United Kingdom
Throughout the UK there are betting shops on pretty much every major street, with an estimated 10,000 plus branches around the country. The main betting shop groups are Ladbrokes, William Hill, Coral, the Tote and Fred Done. The first three listed are all major public companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The UK is one of the centres of online sports gambling and there are more than 30 sites catering to the UK marketplace. Alongside the existing betting shop operators, all of whom have set up their own online sites, a number of specialist operators such as BetUK.com, UKBetting, Skybet, Stan James, Bet Direct and Premierbet have set up websites to take sports bets. Contrary to most media reports these business are not the licence to print money that they might be expected to and those companies that are publicly floated (eg UKBetting and Bet Direct) have constantly struggled to make a profit from online sports betting and in most cases have reported losses.
The UK has also led the way with betting exchanges, which have revolutionised the sports betting market. Exchanges such as Betfair and Betdaq allow bettors to place bets against each other, rather than with a bookmaker; the exchange takes a commission for providing the service. The rise of the exchanges has meant sports bookmakers have had to improve their service, both by offering better odds but also by introducing special concessions and bonuses for bettors.
Smart sharp bettors – and there seem to be a lot of them in the UK – generally will shop for the best odds using odds comparisons services such as Bookies, which will list all the odds for an event from 25 plus bookmakers in one place. There are also a growing number of bonus hunters (or bonus abusers, as the bookmakers will call them) in the UK who only open sports betting accounts to get the free bets. There is also a strong concentration of arbitrageurs who will bet with a bookmaker and then sell their bet back on an exchange for a guaranteed profit.
Casinos in the United Kingdom
Given Britain’s love of gambling it is surprising how few Britons have ever been to a casino – it is thought roughly 3% of the adult population have ever been to one, versus one-third of the American population. One of the main reasons for this is that until recently you had to go to a casino and become a member 48 hours before being allowed in. The so-called ’48 hour rule’ stopped anyone who was thinking about going to a casino on a whim from losing their money. The waiting time was reduced to 24 hours a few years ago and then was abolished entirely in 2005. However casinos in Britain still require customers to join the casino and to show proof of identity – usually a passport or drivers licence is required – and this has meant that casinos are less popular than they might otherwise be.
Britain is in the process of deregulating its casino industry, something which has been the subject of great political debate.
Horseracing in United Kingdom
Britain has a central role in ‘The Sport of Kings’ and has one of the most active horseracing industries in the world. There are 59 racecourses in Great Britain which vary from small local courses to major international racing venues such as Royal Ascot and Cheltenham. Courses traditionally either specialised in flat and National Hunt (jumps) racing but now many of them offer both. Generally speaking, the flat racing season runs from March through to early November and the jumps season runs from October through to mid May. That said, there is flat and jumps racing throughout the year but the quality can be pretty dismal outside the main season.
Bingo in the United Kingdom
Bingo is one of the largest participation activities in the UK with an audience that is predominately female and with a much older average age than the average gambling audience.
‘Real world’ bingo halls in England are expected to undergo a downturn following the introduction of the national ban on smoking in public places; when a similar law was introduced in Scotland in 2006 there was an immediate negative impact on Scottish bingo halls and a number of them were forced to close.
The British online bingo market started growing rapidly in mid-2005 when broadband penetration started to reach into the homes of the bingo demographic. Leading sites include Crown Bingo, Bingo Loopy and Simply Bingo.
