Tuesday, October 12, 2004

So Are We Or Are We Not A Nation Of Gamblers?

I go away for a couple of weeks only to find that in the meantime we're in a grip of a gambling frenzy - or so says the delicately spoken Daily Mail last week.

Apparantly, the amount gambled in the UK has 'rocketed' from a paltry £7.6 billion to almost £40 billion in just 3 years.

And of course, this is largely attributed to the rise of online betting and the abolishment of tax on individual bets.

One of the partners in the company that compiled this new report rallies the UK industry and suggests these figures
"..really does underline its potential to become the genuine global betting market leader"

However, just a few days later and reality hits the ground hard, as the Guardian suggests things aren't quite so globally high flying for the UK.

The Guardian partially lays blame at the advent of the National Lottery 10 years ago that was really a rallying cry to the fortunes of gambling but calmly concludes we're not quite as bad as some out there.

If we are truly looking for a nation of 'crazy gamblers' we need to look at Hong Kong where £5 billion was gambled on just 700 horse races - thats £7 million per race. To put that into perspective - thats about £1 gambled per person per race in Hong Kong. If that happened in the UK, for our annual 9000 races per year, if each person spent £1 per person per race, our betting turnover on just horseracing would be £500 billion - compared to our current 'paltry' £40 billion total betting turnover

The Guardian article goes on to attribute the rise in turnover to FOBTs - roulette terminals that have taken the industry by storm and currently accounts for nearly half of the off-course gambling industry

Ultimately, the hyperbole that these reports bring is merely that - hyperbole. Gambling in the UK clearly has increased as should be expected with the advent of new platforms such as the internet - simply making it easier for people to place a bet. What is of more interest is if these figures continue to rise at such a rate over the next 5 or 10 years

posted by jo @ 3:14 PM   0 comments

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