Gambling News - November 2006 Edition

One out of Three Online Gamblers in Europe are From Britain

According to an independent research review, Britain has taken the lead in Europe for the highest number of residents betting online, with the number of online gamblers in that country doubling over the last five years.  The review, funded by the government, found that of the 3.3 million regular online gamblers in Europe, one out of three are from Britain.  Regular gamblers from Europe typically gamble approximately 3.5 billion pounds a year – an average of about one thousand pounds each.

The government commissioned the research just prior to the first international online gambling summit that took place earlier last week.  Globally, it is estimated that there are 2300 online gambling web sites with the majority of them based in a few key nations such as Antigua and Costa Rica.  Antigua is base to the highest number of online gamblers, hosting 537 sites, with Costa Rica coming not far behind with 474 sites.

Tessa Jowell, Britain’s Culture, Media, and Sport Secretary, said that the independent review provided evidence that there is a need for internationally agreed upon standards for the regulation of online gambling.  Ms. Jowell likened the American approach to online gambling to the prohibition, referring to 1920s efforts in the U.S. to ban alcohol.

 “The enormous risk of prohibition as we saw in America during the 1920s and the 1930s, is that you drive the industry underground”, said Ms. Jowell. “Our purpose is protection.  If gambling becomes an illicit activity, then we can’t do that”.

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