It would appear that gambling in Great Britain is on the rise as more people have indulged in a bit of online wagering in one form or another, at least according to a recent survey.

The UK Gambling Commission conducted an independent survey of 8,000 adults and it showed that nearly 9 per cent of adults had said that they had been involved in some form of remote gambling or betting online over the last year – from March 2007 to March 2008.

Obviously some of the people involved in gambling will have been purchasing National Lottery tickets by remote means, 6.3 per cent in fact, which – taking everything into account – shows that around 5 per cent were gambling remotely in something other than the lottery

Perhaps some news that may not shock you (in the slightest) is that men were more prone to having a wager, while the biggest age group in remote gambling is the 18-34 group.

Remote gambling refers to many different categories such as online casino sites, sports books, poker, the lottery, bingo, spread betting – but it seems there is a rise in the number of people using mobile technology to place their bets.

Of course, most (nearly 7 per cent) of the adults surveyed said they used a personal computer or laptop, but 2.4 per cent revealed that they used their mobile phone compared to less than 2 per cent for digital TV users.

Certainly the Remote Gambling Association’s business director, Brian Wright, is not surprised by the statistics and believes there is a firm future for mobile phones in gambling as they provide an ideal device to support the gamers.

Although he admitted that he is unsure how the future will unfold, Mr Wright believes that the advancement in technology is only going to lead to a bigger impact.

“You can now almost have the same display on your mobile phone as you do on your PC,” Wright said.

“For a while now people have been saying mobile gaming is the next big thing,” he continued. “I wouldn’t say that it will overtake the Internet but there will be a levelling off where one very much looks like the other.”

By David Field
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