World Cup to boost gambling
Tuesday, 30 May 2006 10:24
World Cup to boost gambling
Britons will gamble £173 million over the next two months as the long-awaited Fifa World Cup finally kicks off, new research suggests.
About one-third of adults (6.7 million) will have a flutter during June and July, but the National Lottery remains the UK's most popular way to gamble money, according to friendly society Liverpool Victoria.
However, gamblers will on average bet more on World Cup matches than they will on the lottery, with individuals expected to wager £33 on the football compared to £27 on lottery tickets.
Men are still betting significantly more of their earnings than women, with male gamblers staking a quarter of their monthly savings compared to the ten per cent that female gamblers bet.
Regionally, residents in the north-east are the biggest gamblers, placing bets to the value of £47 every month, while their team's failure to qualify for the World Cup has had a knock-on effect on Welsh gamblers, who are the least likely to put money on next month's tournament.
The survey also found that the internet has maintained its position as world's largest gambling marketplace, with almost four times as much wagered online compared to traditional bookmakers.
Earlier this month charity GamCare expressed its concerns that women were becoming "dangerously" addicted to gambling, especially via the internet.
The charity revealed that the proportion of female gamblers contacting it for advice had increased by 900 per cent between 2000 and 2005, while the number of addicts seeking counselling overall increased by 41.3 per cent during the same period.
Meanwhile, the number of councils bidding for the right to host the UK's inaugural "supercasino" has been narrowed to eight contenders, with Blackpool the favourite to be able to host Las Vegas-style round the clock gambling.
