The UK online gambling market is one of the most established, Safe and regulated ones, as a UK casino player...
The UK online gambling markets is one of the most established and regulated ones. Online gambling, also known as Internet gambling and iGambling, is a general term for gambling using the Internet. There are many forms of online gambling. They are Poker, Casinos, Sports betting, Bingo and Lotteries.
When it comes to gambling in the UK, you have to mention the UK National Lottery, it started in 1994 and is operated by the Camelot Group. Around 70% of UK adults play the National Lottery regularly, making the average annual sales over £5 billion apart from the year 2000-01 where sales dropped just below that. In its first 17 years it has created over 2,800 millionaires. In 2002 Camelot decided to rebrand the National Lottery main draw after falling ticket sales. The name National Lottery was kept as the general name for the organization and the main draw was renamed Lotto. The advertising campaign for the new Lotto cost £72 Million which included 10 television advertisements featuring Scottish comedian Billy Connolly and one of the largest ever poster campaigns. The new brand and name had the slogan: "Don't live a little, live a Lotto’’.
In 2003 Tessa Jowell (then Culture Secretary) suggested a change in the UK Gambling laws to keep up with advances in technology.”Our gambling laws date back to the 1960s. Since then attitudes to gambling have changed and the law has failed to keep pace with rapid technological change. Gambling is now a diverse, vibrant and innovative industry and a popular leisure activity enjoyed in many forms by millions of people. The law needs to reflect that."
The Bill identified updates to the laws already in place in the UK, and also created the UK Gambling Commission to take over from the Gambling Board. The Commission will have the power to prosecute any parties in breach of the guidelines set out by the bill and will be tasked with regulating any codes of practice they set forward. The Bill set out it's licensing objectives, which are firstly, ensuring no link between gambling and crime or disorder. Secondly, ensuring that gambling is conducted fairly and openly. And last, protecting children and vulnerable adults from harm or exploitation. The Bill also set out guidelines stating that gambling will be unlawful in the UK unless granted a license, permit or registration. It outlined the penalty for being in breach of these guidelines, that being a maximum of six months in prison, a fine, or both for each offence. Any person under 18 will not be allowed to gamble and it is an offence to invite of permit anyone under the age of 18 years old to gamble.
Well now coming towards UK online gambling industry statistics it reflects that between 2009–2010, 4% of adults had bet online. Between April 2010 and March 2011, online gambling which is regulated by the UK Gambling Commission yielded £660.74 million, a 5% increase on the previous year. The British regulated online gambling sector was worth a 12% market share of the British regulated gambling industry within the same time period. Most British consumer online gambling activity is on overseas regulated websites, and estimates place the UK consumer market for online gambling at £1.9 billion for 2010. (Approximately three times the size of the British regulated market). In the year to March 2011, 5000 adults were surveyed and reported that 11.2% of them had participated in at least one form of remote gambling in the previous four weeks.
In March 2011, the UK online gambling industry employed 6,077 full time employees. A number that has declined since 2008 where 8,918 full time employees were in employment within the industry. Also, there were 291 remote gambling activity licenses held by 225 operators at this date. Three of the sectors within online gambling are; Betting, Bingo and Casino which between them turned over £13,456.07 million between April 2010 and March 2011. During this time period, Betting turned over a substantial proportion of this amount, turning over £13,081.44 million, with Bingo and Casino turning over £26.75 million and £347.87 million respectively.
So at last I could just say that ‘the race is not always to swift or the battle to the strong, but the way to bet!!! The subject of gambling is all encompassing. It combines man’s natural play instinct with his desire to know about his fate and his future.
