UK Online Gambling

Online gambling is becoming a huge hit in the UK, with figures that are showing steady increases in the amount of online users. The gambling commission was introduced in the UK in 2006 and the aim of the commission is to oversee all laws and regulations restricting gambling in the UK. The commission has reported that is has around 4000 licensed operators within the gambling industry in the UK, however, most of the internet sites are not licensed in the UK so to be able to put an actual figure on the amount of UK online gambling websites has proved very difficult.

Of the websites that are not registered in the UK the main jurisdictions regulating remote gambling are Gibraltar, Malta, Alderney and the Isle of Man. Along with the influx of websites in the UK, these sites have also managed to produce around 8000 jobs for people.

The national lottery in the UK is one of the nation’s favourite, and alone accounts for a quarter of the total £9.9 billion revenue generated by gambling. The British people also favour a flutter on the horses as this seems to be the next favourite followed closely by online Bingo, and then the other popular casino games of poker, blackjack and roulette.

The British people have not always been very favourable towards gambling, and history records date it back thousands and thousands of years. King Henry VIII, banned all of his soldiers from gambling, as he found that they spent more of their time gambling rather than doing their duties. Although the king himself continued to gamble on a regular basis. Gambling in the UK was very much frowned upon, and it confined in the drinking dens and back streets, during this time, one of the non players would be given the task of dice swallower, probably at the promise of a free drink. It would then be his job to swallow the dice should any police men decide to raid the premises.

Laws on gambling were still quite strict until the early 1930’s when Britain saw the first Ladbrokes betting store open its doors, a company who still dominates the UK market. In 1968 came vast changes in the laws in the UK and it saw the gaming laws liberalised to allow full casinos and bingo halls to be operated, previously casinos were only allowed to operate with 10 machines no more.

The national lottery is the UK favourite form of gambling with 5.2 percent of the population playing on a regular basis, however, up until 1956 the only small lotteries were legalised, it wasn’t until laws relaxed in 1976 did we see more lotteries becoming available.

Bingo is big business in the UK with many gaming sites offering staggering jackpots. The bingo sites online are slowly becoming more popular than the old English traditional bingo halls. The online site gives players, more flexibility and enables them to play their favourite games from the comfort of their homes. The sites in the UK also try to create that bingo hall atmosphere, with trained online chat hosts which keep the entertainment lively and under control during the games. The bingo sites not only offer great bingo games but the also offers scratch cards, instants, casino, and slots to name but a few. The games differ depending on the site.

The UK is also a great fan on sports betting and bets are place on many different sports. Some of the more traditional and still most popular forms of betting are on the horse racing, and the greyhound racing. Greyhound racing took a bit of a back seat over the last few years and the amount of stadiums slowly dwindled, but the introduction of online betting has seen greyhound racing becoming very popular online indeed. Football bets also are hugely popular, and there are often better rates offered for online bets then for bets in the bookies. In the regular betting shops in the UK a commission is charged for the bookie of handling the bet, online betting eliminates the need to pay any commissions.

Millions each year is spent on online gambling by the British public it is estimated that£84.2 billion pounds is solely devoted to gambling annually. The gambling industry as a whole employs over 100,000 people and generated in excess of £700 million in taxes.

The laws regulating gambling has caused the UK to be out of the top 3 countries contributing to the online gambling phenomenon, but as the legislations are relaxed a little, online gambling is becoming more and more popular. Gambling is a part of every day life and in the UK statistics show that year by year it is on the increase. More and more online companies are operating in the UK and the amount of licences applied for in 2009 risen by over 10%.

Online gambling is set to become more and more powerful in the UK, and as games become more sophisticated, and more and more people join the online wagon the days of the traditional betting shops are not looking to bright. Online gambling is offering customers a whole new gambling experience, and for very little costs players have the chance of winning big, without leaving the house.

Love it or loathe it online gambling is here to stay, and it is set to become one of the UK’s biggest, and fastest growing industries ever. Online gambling in its many forms and proven to be a favourite pastime, and the UK market is sure to increase as time moves forward.