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Internet spawns new gamblers
03/03/2003 10:12 - (SA)
Corinne Amoo
London - Growing numbers of gamblers are betting on soccer matches and other sports from the comfort of their desks or living rooms.
Online sites are thriving because of a new wave of punters who are computer literate, own credit cards and have a voracious appetite for betting on an array of sports.
"It is fair to say that online betting has created a new market and has made betting a more approachable pastime for those people who do not like the seedy betting shops," said analyst Andrew Lee at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.
Online betting firms Sportingbet and Betfair.com have seen a sharp increase in their customer base.
Sportingbet saw a 19 percent rise in customers to 30 915 last quarter while the number of sports bets placed rose more than one million against the same period last year.
"We have a user base of 75 000 and we are approaching our third anniversary. At peak time we are averaging around 12 000 bets a minute compared with one tenth of that this time last year," said Mark Davies, director of communications at Betfair.com.
Traditionally British gamblers placed bets on horse racing in smoky licensed betting offices. But betting shops broadened their scope and allowed punters to place bets on the outcome of soccer matches.
With the advent of the internet, punters began to gamble online to avoid betting tax. But once this tax was abolished in 2001, those customers returned to the betting shop and a new group of punters began to fuel the online sites.
The internet gambling companies say they are winning these new customers through innovative alternatives and betting techniques.
Office workers
Gamblers can even win money by choosing the correct aggregate number after adding the number of goals scored in a football match to the players' shirt numbers.
Another style of gambling, spread betting, is also pulling in the internet punters. In spread betting, the punter bets on variations from an estimated result.
Analysts say this new market of online betters has been carved out of affluent office workers who are spending increasing amounts of their money and time trying their luck on the net.
Technology improvements
Bookmakers William Hill's media relations director Graham Sharp said stereotypes and averages were always misleading.
"Just because certain people bet on the internet this does not mean this is the only way they bet. Affluent people have always bet anyway and have always found a way of doing it.
"Newer gamblers who are more comfortable with the technology will choose to begin their betting experience on the internet because it takes away the embarrassment of walking into a betting shop for the first time and not quite understanding how it works," he said.
"Without a doubt, the internet has certainly made placing a first bet a lot easier for anyone."
Analysts and online betting companies say improvements in technology have indeed made betting easier. Punters are free to watch an unprecedented amount of sport and it is has become easier to bet due to credit cards, the internet and cellphones.
As one anonymous gambler said: "Online betting is so addictive, it's the thrill, it's at your fingertips, will you win or won't you?"
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