ONLINE GAMBLING UP IN BRITAIN

3 August 2007

Current stats from the Gambling Commission indicate growing interest in remote gaming

The number of people going online to place a bet in the UK is on the increase, according to a PA News assessment of current Gambling Commission statistical studies in Britain.

Surveys carried out among 8 000 respondents in the year to June 2007 indicated that 8.6 percent of adults had taken part in at least one form of remote gambling during the previous month, up from the 7.4 percent seen in polls for the 2006 calendar year.

The latest statistics, compiled from the Gambling Commission's quarterly surveys, showed that the national lottery remains the most popular form of remote gambling, followed by online poker.

In the four quarters to June, 6.7 percent of adult respondents said they had gambled via a computer, laptop or handheld advice over the previous month - up from the 5.2 percent recorded in last year's surveys.

Mobile phone betting is on the increase, too, with almost 3 percent of adults using their handset as a gambling tool at least once in the month before the surveys in the year to June this year. And gambling via interactive or digital TV also showed a small increase during the period, up from 1.7 percent to 1.8 percent.

The Gambling Commission studies show that remote gamblers are more likely to be male and between the ages of 18 and 34.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa