When Did Online Gambling Start In Uk

• When Did Online Gambling Start In Uk 2020
• When Did Online Gambling Start In Uk 2019
• When Did Online Gambling Start In Uk Today
• When Did Online Gambling Start In Uk History

The online sports betting market in the UK is estimated to be worth £650 million which has seen a compounding annual growth rate from 2009–12 of approximately 7%. The total online gambling population in the UK is estimated at 2.1 million customers. Alderney, a British Channel Island, starts to accept applications for online gambling licences. PartyPoker launches and goes on to become the world´s biggesy online poker site before it has to pull out of the US. 2003 eCOGRA (eCommerce and Online Gambling Regulation and Assurance) is set up to self regulate the industry. The Gambling Commission, which regulates all gambling activities in the UK, says complaints about social media raffles have been greatly on the rise in recent years. 1990s: Online casinos start making an appearance in the UK. 1993: The National Lottery Act is passed and the National Lottery Commission is set up to regulate the National Lottery. 2005: The Gambling Act is passed and the UK Gambling Commission is set up. Casinos based in the UK. The Gambling Act 2005 now enables online casinos to be based in the UK although given the tax advantages of places such as Gibraltar it is however unlikely that many of them will relocate back to the UK. The Gambling Commission.

Gambling has been with us almost since time began and it even exists in mythology with the ancient Greek Gods drawing lots to decide who received the sky, the seas and the underworld.

In the real world, crude dice were fashioned from animal bones and rolling the bones became a popular pastime with various stakes involved. But without delving too much into prehistory and those games that eventually evolved into modern day casino culture, the question concerns gambling and how it developed into the Billion Dollar industry that people know today?

To answer that, let’s start with one of the oldest sports on a typical bookmaker’s list.

We often talk about the history of gambling in glowing terms. Fond nostalgia is recalled as we talk about physical betting shops and the lost art of actually leaving the house and placing a wager.

Further back in time, we also have the origins of the ‘sport of kings’. Horse racing stretches back for centuries and it has a very colourful history all of its own. It’s a largely wholesome look back but things weren’t always like this.

The Dark Ages

A lot of early wagering took place in taverns around the UK and the subjects of gambling interest could be quite unsavoury at times. We’ve all heard of the practise of cockfighting which has long been outlawed yet it still remains noted in names of hostelries up and down the country. Ever visited a pub called the Fighting Cocks? The name is not a coincidence.

There is no great mystery to the name either. Two cockerels are placed into a pit and what follows is literally a fight to the death. Bets are placed on each bird with profits going to those who have backed the winners. We must be thankful we won’t be witnessing such horror on a trip to our current local but it’s all part of a rich betting history and that’s why it’s recorded here.

Optional Bloodsports

Talking of pub names, have you ever wondered about the origins of the Dog and Duck? On the face of things, it all seems fairly wholesome and the two beasts are not exactly sworn enemies in the natural world. Once upon a time, however, it was all very different.

Legend has it that ducks would be released into a nearby pond with their wings taped. This had the effect of allowing them to float on top of the water but they were unable to fly away and escape the attention of a ferocious dog. The ravenous canine would be released and punters would bet on which of the defenceless ducks it would capture first.

Those taverns also played host to bare knuckle boxing fights. There was a notable absence of rules between these early pugilists but it was largely a case of last man standing. Tavern going people simply looked to bet on the winner and claim their share of the pot after helping to wipe the blood from the walls.

A series of legislation was slowly brought in to combat these brutal sports. Cockfighting was addressed in 1849 but it largely carried on in defiance of any new rules, Over a century later, the Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act of 1963 looked to go a stage further.

1963 Rulings

The Betting, Lotteries and Gaming Act of 1963 looked to repeal and clarify some earlier laws. In 1960, the UK paved the way for licensed betting shops to be opened and this helped to take gambling away from the pubs and into more regulated premises.

The 1963 act simply tidied up some of the earlier rulings and the biggest development saw the establishment of the British horse racing levy board. It had built on earlier rules but the acts of 1960 and 1963 did the most to take the bloodsports out of the taverns and to put an end to them as far as they possibly could.

The Sport of Kings

The first reference to the sport of horse racing dates back to England in the sixteenth century. We know that the concept of riding a horse and competing against an opponent predates that by some margin but this is the first time that we see horse racing listed as a competitive and largely friendly sport.

We also know that wagering took place prior to this time so we can be almost completely certain that when the sport became official in Great Britain, gambling came along too and was synonymous with it.

1504 marks the year when James IV of Scotland is said to have attended a meeting at Leith and just eight years later, the UK had its first official thoroughbred race in the shape of the Chester Cup, first run in 1512. The sport intensified from that period and we know that betting took place but how, exactly, did a transaction take place in the absence of a Tote or a Ladbrokes Tent?

A Gentleman’s Wager

Bookmaking in its present form, where an individual or organisation sets up an official betting book, didn’t start until the nineteenth century so before its inception, racegoers had to sort things out for themselves. Remember, this was a time before most of the major sports in the world – football, cricket, rugby, golf etc – had even been invented by people so we have to take horse racing as the example and here we find the Genesis of sports betting.

In the 16th century, bets were made between friends and rivals. One would bet on a horse to win and the other would take that bet and collect if it lost. Effectively, this would form the basis of back and lay bets which were picked up by the betting exchanges centuries later.

In time, these straight ‘win or lose’ punts were replaced as one individual would essentially set odds. ‘You bet Five Guineas and if the horse wins I give you Twenty Guineas’. But there was no sense of organisation – just a bet between two racegoers.

We know that this type of back and lay dates back to Roman times at least when the lives of the Gladiators were laid on the line for the sake of entertainment, and the chance to win some money through gambling…

Problems, Problems

The thorny issue of responsible gambling is very much at the forefront of our consciousness in modern times and it was a concern in the early days of gambling too. By 1722, some 122 towns and cities in the country were holding race meetings with money changing hands at each one.

Worried by the escalation in betting, the government introduced the Gaming Act of 1739 which included a number of measures that were intended to deter likely bettors from attending a day at the racing. Entrance money and prize money were increased to a minimum level of £50.00 and that prevented all but the richest owners from entering their horses into any race.

Documents at the time link gambling on the sport to idleness and impoverishment and the new act did much to deter the poorer citizens from attending and from entering into organized meetings. However, as an overall means for social reform, it was worthless as illegal meets were set up around the country and racing, and gambling continued as before!

Order, Order

The government could therefore do little to reduce gambling and so, in the second half of the eighteenth century, two separate bodies were set up to regulate the sport. One was intended to bring more order to meetings while the other was established to bring the gambling world into line.

In 1750, the Jockey Club was formed in Newmarket with a specific brief to bring order to the chaotic world of horse racing. The first set of rules was to be introduced while an overall organisation of the various meetings across the UK was also set up.

Their actions aided the introduction of Tattersalls in 1789 which was a body for the regulation of gambling. The order brought about by the Jockey Club had seen the introduction of many famous races such as The St Leger, The Oaks and The Derby so while its goal was being achieved, the betting fraternity had become increasingly dysfunctional.

At that point, betting had effectively remained a wager between two people but as demand increased, so did the need for proper facilities. Previously, the majority of races had seen two horses go head to head but with some of the sport’s great ‘classics’ having been born, there were greater fields. The original ‘back and lay’ system had started to become redundant and in the years that followed, bookmaking as we know it finally saw the light of day.

The Godfather

The man credited as the first ever bookmaker is a certain William Ogden. Curiously, for a man who essentially gave birth to one of the most popular pastimes and biggest industries in the world, very little is known about his life.

What we do know is that Ogden became the first man to offer fixed odds on all horses in a specific race. At that point in history of betting, all you needed was a head for mathematics, an entrepreneurial disposition and, of course, a fair amount of money to back you up if things went wrong.

Ogden was followed by colourful characters such as Facetious Jemmy Bland and Crutch Robinson who became familiar faces around the tracks of the time. Again, we know little about many of these men but perhaps Bland is indicative of the type of person who would become one of the pioneers of bookmaking.

‘Facetious’ Bland owned a house on London’s Piccadilly so his wealth inspired a certain level of resentment among his fellow man. However, during his time spent dealing with the betting fraternity, he built up a reputation for honesty and fair play and in those early days of cash only transactions, that was all you could really ask for.

In fact, such was Ogden’s honesty that he was to become the only bookmaker ever to be allowed into the hallowed rooms of the Jockey Club at Newmarket. We often think of early sports bookies as being ‘shady’ characters and certainly over the years there have been some who operated on both sides of the law but clearly in these early days, many were considered to be respectable and honest businessmen.

The Nay-Sayers

Although transactions at the start of organised bookmaking seemed to have, in the main, progressed very well, there was a predictable outcry against the dangers of betting. We’re back to the claims of idleness and poverty and the feeling amongst many that it was something of a curse on the nation.

External factors would also affect the public’s attitude to gambling – Ponzi schemes and the South Sea Bubble have been cited as factors behind a general resentment. The collapse of the first national lottery and the concerns over the fledgling stock market had also raised public ire so once again, it was back to the government to draw up legislation that would address any problems – perceived or otherwise.

Admittedly there had been some very high profile betting frauds being carried out but the Gaming Act of 1845 effectively outlawed the practise making all betting contracts void and unenforceable. Those who sought support from the state were backed up quite readily as the government had been forced into a bailout in the light of many of these frauds.

Going Underground

Having been out in the open for over half a century, bookmakers were forced to go underground once again. Bets were still made and accepted but they were naturally clandestine in the wake of the 1845 set of legislation.

In the first half of the 19th century, betting houses had been cropping up in towns and cities all over the country but these were to be outlawed in the wake of the Gaming Act. In turn, that led to street betting which eventually become subject to further rules but the practise didn’t go away.

Arrests for breaches of the law increased but so did the increase in betting. It was clear, even though the rules remained in place, that the gambling community wasn’t going to go away and that they merely had to be more careful as to how they went about their business.

Betting House Act of 1853

Like a number of gambling rulings, the Betting House Act of 1853 was introduced to answer some issues that hadn’t been addressed by previous legislation. In this instance, the earlier Gaming Act of 1845 had sought to deal with the rise of gambling and the feeling at the time that this was a social problem.

The Act didn’t actually outlaw gambling but it ruled that a wager was an unenforceable contract and the subsequent problem was that the losing party simply didn’t have to pay up. Some bookmakers that were in existence just ran away with clients’ money and it’s largely fair to say that the 1845 act did more harm than good.

In order to take advantage of this new landscape, unlicensed betting shops began to crop up in all places. Private houses saw an opportunity and this was the primary issue that the Betting House Act of 1853 sought to address.

The 1853 ruling made it illegal to use or to provide any property for the use of betting. Once again, it wasn’t perfect as a lot of wagers were suddenly being made on the street but it did deal with those unlicensed houses.

The main benefit of the act saw a limited amount of licensed betting at racetracks around the UK. In Victorian Britain, this proved to be a popular pastime and this was essentially the birth of on track betting which continues to thrive in the present day.

Tolerance

The first quarter of the twentieth century saw a shift in public and legal attitude towards gambling. It was evident that even with laws that had been put in place, the practise wasn’t going to disappear so rather than try to abolish it, questions were asked as to how gambling could be regulated.

There had been a precedent in regards to alcohol where fair licensing laws had helped to calm social excess so how could the same be done with betting?

The 1906 Street Gambling Act had sought to wipe out gambling but it only saw an increase in arrests and bookies, like publicans, were seen to be providing a useful service to the social community. It wasn’t until the outbreak of the First World War that a greater level of tolerance was seen as the police clearly had more important issues to deal with.

William Hill and Joe Coral – the Bookies Runner

This was the time when important gambling characters such as William Hill and Joe Coral began to appear. Officially, the Coral Group was first established in 1926 but young Joe had started his bookmaking career much earlier. Having left school at 14, a talent for mathematics also landed him a job as a clerk in a lamp making factory and it was there that he came into contact with several private bookies.

Joe became unofficially employed as a Bookies Runner – one occupation that has ultimately led to many of the established brands that we know today. The mechanics of the job are not widely published but the clue is in the name. People such as Joe Coral would literally ‘run’ the bet between client and bookmaker, handling the cash and delivering any winnings back to the customer.

Trustworthiness was therefore vital although the consequences of a runner stealing money from some of the more shady bookmakers would have been grim. The issue of trust also meant that runners were often young boys aged around 14 – 16 – people that the police would tend to turn a ‘blind eye’ to as they went about their business.

William Hill’s entry into the world of bookmaking provides interesting parallels to that of Joe Coral. Hill ran away from his schooling at the tender age of 12 and by the start of World War One had begun an apprenticeship at the BSA Motorcycle Company in Birmingham. From there he got into ‘running’ and by having access to a bike he could do his job far more efficiently.

Runners such as William Hill and Joe Coral have gone on to become household names but there were thousands like them in an industry that had been driven underground but was about to become tolerated and it was ultimately made legal to bet.

Study Group

Through 1932 and into 1933, the Royal Commission on Lotteries and Betting sat and initially, it was designed to tackle a familiar problem – the effect of gambling on society. But, as the weeks went by, the attitude of its members changed as it realised that the underground industry was never going to be stamped out.

In fact, one witness to the sittings said that it was doubtful whether a single bet had been prevented in the wake of the 1906 Street Betting Act. Ultimately, they concluded that the main problem laid in the direct contact that a bettor had with the bookmaker and that was the key issue in terms of social decay, associated with gambling.

As a result, a special system of letter boxes was set up so that bets could be posted and this in turn led to a loophole whereby postal bets by regular mail were also admissible. This particular ‘grey area’ was exploited by early brands such as Coral and William Hill who used it to build their burgeoning businesses. Licensed Betting Shops were discussed at the platform but the idea was dismissed – for now.

Essentially, another set of ‘underground dealings’ were established but in the years that followed, the inception of the welfare state and the crises that eventually led to the Second World War were to become a focus for politicians at the time.

Sea Change

At the conclusion of the conflict, the government was able to turn once again to its issues at home and in 1949, a second Royal Commission was established to see if there had been a shift in public opinion since the first sitting prior to World War II.

It was evident that sports betting was becoming acceptable in all levels of society and over the years, several factors had broken down social boundaries to an extent. Chairman of the commission Henry Willink and his partners agreed with the opinion that attitudes to gambling were stuck in a form of misplaced Victorian morality. Furthermore and perhaps more importantly, the government had also recognised that a huge revenue could be drawn from the proceeds of a legitimised gambling industry.

A number of new recommendations were made but the biggest of these surrounded the formation of legalised betting shops. The Royal Commission of 1949 stated that these premises should be introduced and that anyone operating illegally should now be granted an official gambling license rather than be punished.

Slow Change – When Did Betting Shops Become Legal?

The recommendations were taken on board and were to lead to the biggest change in the gambling industry to that point. However, progress was slow and it wasn’t until 1960 that betting shops were allowed to trade in Britain’s towns and cities.

The legislation produced in the Betting and Gaming Act of 1960 had a number of facets some of which were important at the time but seem relatively minor now. For example, gambling for small sums in games of skill such as bridge was allowed for the first time and pubs were allowed to install and openly display slot machines. But the biggest move of all saw the first licensed betting shops open their doors to customers for the first time in the summer of 1961.

Established brands such as Ladbrokes and William Hill started to get involved and it’s said that from May 1st 1961, betting shops were opening at a rate of 100 per week until there were 10,000 premises by the following November.

Over the years, other names started to appear on the British High Street such as Betfred, Paddy Power. In many cases these were regional with BetFred in the Manchester area and Stan James to the west of England and it wasn’t until the digital age revolutionised the way we bet that we began to know them just a little bit better.

Growth continued throughout the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s and although most of us like to gamble online these days, the betting shop on the High Street continues to thrive. The Betting and Gaming Act of 1960 had finally made it possible and had paved the way for gambling operators to go to the global level that we know today.

It had been a long struggle, lasting even hundreds of years but finally society had accepted an industry that simply refused to die.

Online Bookmakers

By the mid-1990s, the internet had started to take hold and it was also changing the world of commerce. Instant financial transactions had made life easier for global consumers and it was only a matter of time before sports bookmakers realised the online potential, that is, online betting.

While many began preparing for digital trading, Intertops were the first to make their move. With a license from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, the sportsbook unveiled its online platform in 1996. To this day, they are not open to online players from the United Kingdom but many new operators followed Intertops’ lead and began to establish their digital presence.

Between 1996 and 2000, some very familiar online brands began to emerge including Unibet and bet365. In time, those established betting shop brands from the high street such as William Hill, Ladbrokes and Coral began to follow suit.

In the 20+ years since Intertops broke the mould, we now have hundreds of UK online bookmakers to choose from and digital platforms have allowed for new gambling innovations. We’ve seen live betting explode while cashout and loyalty programmes are new developments that have added value to our online betting.

It can only get bigger and better from here and when we talk about online betting, the question, as always, is ‘what’s next?’

Having a bet is a pastime for many in Britain and abroad and most of us couldn't imagine a time when we were unable to gamble freely. We take it for granted that we will be able to wager on pretty much any event or market from around the world and the huge competition in high street and online bookmaking means we also expect good prices and prompt payouts from our bookies when we do bet.

For most of recorded history however having a bet was fraught with difficulty and uncertainty. Before the Victorian era wagers were simply placed between men under a gentleman's agreement and this was usually a straight up bet with no odds, there was also not much you could do if someone ran off with your stake and/or winnings.

Things didn't get much easier in the 1800's. Early bookmakers were often illegal and those that were legal were tightly regulated and only allowed to practice at licensed tracks and courses. It was the 1960's that saw the biggest change in bookmaking as off course gambling was legalised resulting in the rise of the betting shop, and subsequently when the internet was invented, online gambling.

In this article I talk about the early days of bookmaking, the first bookies, changes in the law and the way we bet, the rise of online bookmakers and the future of online betting.

The First Bookmaker

Betting is older than written history itself, people have been taking bets on anything they can think of since before money was even invented.

Most early wagers were crude, often with just two possible outcomes. One would bet on one side to win, such as the Roundheads to win the English civil war, and the other would bet on the alternative outcome, the Cavaliers to win.

Odds were rarely used and most wagers were effectively taken at 'evens'. This is fine if you are predicting an evenly matched event but in life we know things are rarely even. This could be even worse if you were betting on a horse as quite often the bet choice was 'Horse X to win' vs 'Horse X not to win', hardly an even bet (in most cases).

Bookmakers on the other hand are people who lay actual odds creating a 'book' encompassing multiple scenarios or results, which, if balanced, will always ensure a profit. With this new type of business, rather than two people pitting their wits against each other over one possible outcome, a bookmaker will take multiple bets for several outcomes from different sources. If they have their prices right then this should always ensure a profit.

Harry Ogden

Back in the 1700's the new sport of horse racing was really beginning to take off among the upper and middle classes in Britain.

The Lancastrian, Harry Ogden, set up a pitch on Newmarket heath close to Britain's oldest and most famous racecourse in the 1790's. He was close enough to the course that he and his punters could see the racing but far enough away that he didn't get hassled from the owners of the course.

Rather than pricing all horse the same Harry realised that as some horses were better than others they will have different chances of winning, therefore he set different prices across the field. This gave punters a choice, for the first time they could bet tactically deciding whether to go for more security by backing the favourite, but with low returns, or taking more of punt on an outsider, less likely to win but will pay out more if it does.

The clever thing that Harry Ogden did however was to build in a profit margin into his book. On balance the odds he set never quite reflected the real chances of the result, for example, a 10/1 horse priced by Ogden may have an actual chance of winning more like a 12/1. The art of bookmaking was born and gambling has never been the same since.

Of course it is likely there were others doing similar things around the same time, however it is Harry Ogden who was recorded in the annals of history.

History of British Gambling Laws

Early Gambling Law

In the very earliest days it was the Bible that was used to discourage people from betting, cited as a sin, having a punt could easily land you a spot in hell.

When Did Online Gambling Start In Uk 2020

Of course this didn't really work and having a bet among friends became common place in European culture. In 1190 The King of England (Richard I) and France (Phillip) created the first known gambling law. This outlined who would or would not be allowed to gamble and for how much, of course they excluded themselves. The punishment involved a good whipping and a fine paid to the church.

The rise of the sport of horse racing in the 1600's onward increased betting and gaming as leisure activity, gambling was also spreading to sports such as cricket and pub games. Gaming Acts resulted in 1739 and 1745 banning wagers on a wide range of pub games, including roulette and darts. This had little effect on those who played behind closed doors however – such as the majority of the aristocracy.

Like many aspects of British culture early gaming and gambling laws were brought in to control the working classes. By the 1800's however gambling had become rife in all classes of society requiring a more stringent set of laws.

Early Bookmakers

There were three big problems with the rise of independent bookies like Harry Ogden in the early 1800's.

The first issue was a lack of regulation. There were no specific laws to ensure that bookmakers paid out correctly (or even at all) and conversely, unprotected away from the course, bookies were often lynched by sore losers and other unscrupulous agents. Most bets therefore were placed with a written contract and this meant courts were becoming clogged up with debt settling cases. The government now took the view that if you were stupid enough to bet, or lay odds, you shouldn't receive legal protections.

Secondly the government of the day did not much like the fact that all this gambling was going on tax free, like most pleasures in in life they are only acceptable if you can tax it (e.g. smoking).

Finally this was the Victoria era and gambling was a heathen pursuit, an ungodly practice that poisoned the soul. Like most other 'fun' things the Victorians wanted to have full control of all public vices.

Gaming Act 1845

In response to the opinion that gambling was having damaging social effects in the 19th century a House of Lords select committee was formed. The committee set out a series of recommendations that resulted in the first piece of legislation brought in by parliament in England to help control gambling was the 1845 Gaming Act.

The act did not make betting illegal but rather sought to discourage the practice by making all wagers unenforceable as a legal contract. This meant bookmakers, or bettors, could run off with the money and the law would offer you no legal protections.

The Act was set up this way to give police more powers over the working classes while still allowing gambling to take place amongst the upper classes and elite. How very British to have a law that applies differently based on your class!

Parts of the 1845 Act remained in place right up until 2007. Namely sections 17 and 18 which made cheating illegal, punishable by two years in jail and a £200 fine (a huge amount back then), and any gambling contracts void in the eyes of the law.

If caught accepting bets you now could be imprisoned and so few bookies now risked the exposure of the racetrack. Whether the Gaming Act did much to stop illicit gambling away from racetracks is unlikely, many carried on regardless as if the Act didn't exist in various betting houses and dens.

1853 Betting Act

The 1845 Act didn't make betting illegal and so what ensued was a huge expansion of betting houses. According to Charles Dickens a house had 'sprung up on every street'.

The 1853 Betting Act was therefore brought in making it illegal to use or keep any property for the purposes of betting or gaming.

In combination with the 1845 Act this effectively outlawed off track betting. In reality the result was a huge increase in on-street gambling instead.

Legalisation Of On Track Betting

What the Gaming and Betting Acts of 1845 and 1853 did do for sure is help create the Britain's love of a day out at the horse racing. The Acts allowed restricted forms of gambling at designated race tracks and I doubt the government could have predicted how popular this would be with the public.

New Victorian social reforms, such as paid holiday for workers for the first time, a growing middle class and new forms of advertisement coupled with the new technological advance of the railway saw attendances grow sharply. New race courses opened all over the country in response to this demand and special excursion trains were put on to allow all classes of people to attend the new meetings.

This is one reason why today Britain plays host to some of the oldest and most famous courses (Newmarket, Epsom, Cheltenham, etc.,) and races (St Leger, Guineas, Gold Cup, Derby, Oaks, etc., ), all of which attained a large part of their prestige at this time.

Greyhound Racing – Working Class Gambling

Having licenced gambling at race courses was all well and good and maybe for one week each year working families could travel to one for a day out. For the most part however having a bet was largely restricted to those who could afford to attend races or send agents on their behalf to place bets.

Brought over from America, Greyhound racing took off in the UK in the 1920's with the first characteristic oval track opening at Belle Vue in Manchester in 1926. Most greyhound tracks were within inner cities and driven by increasing living standards and worker affluence they flourished at this time.

Dog racing offered a way for working class people to have a bet on their own doorsteps. Most meetings were scheduled in the evening to allow workers to attend after work.

The great depression in the 1930's had little effect on the rise of the sport and the Tote (see later) began operating at track. Following the end of WWII attendances spiked with reportedly over 30 million people attending course in 1946, that's more than the whole population of Britain at the time.

The gaming act in 1960 in combination with the rise of other sports and games and television saw greyhound racing decline from over 100 tracks to now around 20. Read more about the demise of greyhound racing in our article.

The Football Pools

It was difficult to bet legally on anything other than horse or greyhound racing in the middle decades of the 20th Century. Many in the aristocracy had 'places' they could go and play various games or bet for money without interference but for those in the working class there was not much facility.

When the football pools came along in 1923, founded by John Moores Littlewoods in Liverpool, it offered working class men a means to have a punt on the football that was full of fun but cost very little. A national obsession was born. The game escaped the gambling laws of the time as it was cited as a game of skill rather than chance, the low stakes nature of the game and popularity amongst workers helped it to survive. The government did tax it well though, 40% for most of its existence.

Various companies started a football pool but the two most famous were Littlewoods and Vernons and they distributed coupons outside major football games and factories. The lure of the game was the ability to win potentially tens of thousands of pounds for fraction of a penny for each line.

The football pools remained the most popular weekly 'betting' coupon up until 1994 when it was eventually superseded by the National Lottery in the hearts of the nation. You can however still play the pools online if you like.

The 1960 Betting and Gaming Act

The biggest change in the history of Gambling in the United Kingdom came in 1961 when Harold McMillian's government legalised betting shops under the 1960 Betting and Gaming Act. This was an unusual move for a conservative politician but it ultimately reflected the times.

The early 1960's was a time for change, people demanded more freedom to do what they wanted, and placing a bet changed overnight from something you did at licenced tracks and in seedy back alleys to a national institution.

I won't cover the act itself in much detail, if you would like to read more about this see our article on Gambling Licences and Law.

Lifting Restrictions

Over the next 40 years gambling law became more and more relaxed as restrictions were progressively listed. For example, it was only in the early 1990's that the trebles rule was lifted on football betting. This stipulated all football bets must be multiple bets with 3 or more selections up to this point.

Changing Tax Law

Until 2001 all bets placed in the UK carried a betting levy, this was a 9p in the pound tax that could be paid either on your stake or on your winnings. By the mid 1990's many traditional British bookmakers were begging to move abroad to avoid the betting levy. Victor Chandler (now BetVictor) famously moved to Antigua in the late 1990's allowing them to run a tax free book for eastern clients.

Fearing an exodus abroad Gordon Brown (then chancellor) issued a review of gambling, chaired by an old teacher of mine, Sir Alan Budd. The review resulted in a new law that instead taxed bookies 15% on their gross profits. For the first time punters could gamble tax free – although in reality punters were still paying this tax as bookies increased their odds margins to compensate.

In the internet age many bookies could get around this tax by basing their online operations abroad, this is why you see so many betting sites based in Gibraltar or Malta. In 2014 the law therefore changed again to a point of consumption tax. This now meant if you took bets from the UK you had to pay the tax, win, win for the government. This was enforceable under the new Gambling License (see next).

See our article for more about gambling and betting tax for more.

2005 Gambling Act and the Gambling Commission

The same 2001 review that resulted in changes to the tax laws around gambling also recommended that all gambling legislation should be streamlined into a single Act with a regulator to be set up to enforce it. This resulted in the 2005 Gambling Act and the new regulator, the Gambling Commission.

Before the 2005 act anyone could set up a website anywhere in the world and take bets from UK customers. Not only did this not result in any tax for the government it also meant punters had little protection from crime and fraud.

The 2005 Act was principally focused around creating an open and honest industry where vulnerable people were protected and fraud minimised. The new act also oversaw the new National Lottery (as well as other lotteries) to ensure maximum proceeds were given to good causes.

When Did Online Gambling Start In Uk 2019

All bookmakers and betting sites were now required to possess a Gambling Commission licence in order act as a bookmaker in the UK, no matter where they are based. This act still applies today, to gamble safely in Britain you should only bet with licensed operators. To find out more about the 2005 Act and the Gambling commission read our licencing article.

2014 Gambling Bill

An amendment to the 2005 Gambling Act was brought in in 2014. This effectively closed loopholes that allowed companies based abroad to advertise in the UK without a gambling licence. It also changed the tax arrangements to ensure all operators must pay tax on UK profits irrespective of their location.

Much of the legislation today focuses around protecting vulnerable people, such as under 18's, from gambling. Massive fines are now levied to companies who fail to promote responsible gambling in particular.

As the world of betting progressively moves online it is becoming harder for law makers to ensure they can police the whole landscape. Saying that the UK in general is ahead of the curve on its gambling laws and better positioned than most countries moving forward.

Ladbrokes - Oldest Bookmaker Still Around Today

When Did Online Gambling Start In Uk Today

The oldest bookmaker that still exists today is Ladbrokes, I think they can claim the crown of the oldest bookmaker in the world as well as in the UK.

Back in 1886 two gentlemen known as Schwind and Pennington went into partnership together acting as commission agents for horses trained at Ladbroke Hall in Worcestershire. Pennington was the trainer Schwind the agent, Schwind's job as commission agent was to back the horses trained by Pennington.

In 1902 the pair were joined by Arthur Bendir who founded the Ladbrokes name, based on the Ladbroke Hall sign. Some say the same was a pun on the words 'broke lads' although this seems to have been thought up afterwards.

Bendir changed the business model of the company from just backing horses trained at Ladbroke Hall by also betting against other horses. This model made the company both punter and bookmaker.

The new bookmaker achieved almost instant success and quickly moved to the Strand in London, upgrading to Hanover Square in 1906 and as a sign of their success ended up in Mayfair in 1913.

From their Mayfair location Ladbrokes established themselves as an exclusive bookmaker for high class clients and aristocrats. This model worked well until the outbreak of WWII, following the war facing a dwindling list of clients and an outdated business model the company was eventually sold in 1956 to Mark Stein and his nephew Cyril for just £100,000.

Five years later off-course betting was legalised in the UK and Ladbrokes opened some of the first betting shops. The company were embraced the new times and were innovators, they were the first to introduce the fixed odds football coupon for example. By 1966 the company floated for £1,000,000, ten times what the Stein family bought the company for.

Ladbrokes have never looked back and having merged with Coral in 2016 are now the biggest betting and gaming brand in Britain and one of the biggest in the world. In 2015 the company revenue approached nearly £2 billion and they now employ over 15,000 people and still maintain 400+ shops (including Coral shops). It goes to show there is a lot of money in modern bookmaking.

The Totalisator Board – The Tote

Until the legalisation of off course gambling nearly all official wagers were placed at the racecourse on horse or greyhound racing. Following the 1845 and 1853 gaming and betting acts the government were now able to monitor and even tax this form legal betting from on-course bookmakers.

In 1928 the government went one better, realising there was still a lot of illegal off course gambling and seeing the amount of revenue coming from gambling they set up their own Racehorse Betting Control Board under the Racecourse Betting Act 1928.

The board, set up by Sir Winston Churchill no less, established a state controlled bookmaker with a presence at racetracks across the UK. The first race meeting at which the body had a presence was the flat meeting at Newmarket in July 1929.

Pari-mutual betting was the model of the new state controlled body. Rather than having fixed odds that you could bet any amount on instead you all stakes would go into a central pool. Taxes and margins would be taken out and then the winners would receive a share of the pool.

As part of the 1961 Betting Act the body was renamed the Horserace Totalisator Board, or Tote for short. The original body was responsible for both state-controlled betting and redistributing racing funds. The later function was transferred to the Horserace Betting Levy Board.

The Tote opened a high street shop in 1972 and for a long time was the only place where you could place pool pari-mutual bets. In 1992 the body expanded to allow other bookies to be able to contribute to the pool and this resulted in the Tote becoming one of the biggest bookmakers in the country with bets accepted in over 7000 shops.

The Tote teamed up with Channel 4 in 1999 launching the massive jackpot Scoop6, where punters could win hundreds of thousands to millions by predicting the winners of 6 races. This bet and other totepool bets proved, and still prove today, to be popular with punters. To read more about these bets and how to place them see our Totepool article.

The Tote even managed to stay up with the times launching a hugely successful betting site, www.Totesport.com. Inevitably, like most things owned by the state in Great Britain, the Tote was sold off to Betfred in 2011 for £265M.

Betfred have maintained the totepool as a separate brand but have internalised all totepool bets into the main site making the modern totesport site basically a clone of Betfred. If you want to know who was responsible for this it was no other than Jeremy Hunt – what a massive Hunt he is too.

The First Betting Shops - 1961

Following the new gaming act in 1960 betting shops opened rapidly. The new laws came into place on the 1st May 1961 after which shops began opening at a rate of 100 each week and by the end of the year there were an estimated 10,000 shops open across the country.

It is not recorded who opened the very first shop but by the late 1970's there were over 15,000 betting shop premises. The landscape was dominated by Ladbrokes, William Hill, Coral and Betfred in Britain and Paddy Power in Irelandthe same names that still dominate the industry today.

Additional Acts passed in 1963 and 1968 brought in licences for other forms of betting, such as casinos and bingo. The 1970 Gaming Act brought together all forms of gambling, including slot machines, under one law controlled by the new Gaming Board. The Gaming Board directly answered to the Home Office.

The First Online Betting Site – Intertops 1996

Online gambling began first with online casinos. Casino sites were set up from 1994 onwards following the Free Trade & Processing Act passed in Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua granted online gaming licenced to remote casinos based in the territory. This was coupled with the launch of the first casino software, Microgaming, and secure payment system, Cryptologic.

Seeing the impressive early adoption into online casinos bookmakers began to sit up and take note. Intertops became the first recognised online sports betting site on the web in 1996, regulated by the then new and first of it's kind, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. The site is still running today, although it has certainly fallen behind the times and looks like a 20+ year old site. Intertops does not have a UK gambling licence and so cannot legally accept UK customers.

What followed was a cascade of new sites opening, by 1998 there were at least 100 known sports betting sites globally. At this time some of Britain's biggest bookies began their move online, from the likes of William Hill, Ladbrokes, Betfred and Coral. Before 2000 online betting represented less than 1% of the overall gambling market, just 15 years later the online bookmakers overhauled the old land based operations to become the most common way to place a wager.

Exchange Betting - Betfair

Set up in 2000 the Betfair exchange offered an innovative new model for placing wagers. Rather than accepting the odds you were given by your bookmaker you could instead bet directly with other real people acting as their own micro bookmaker. This meant you could often get better odds by cutting out the middle man. The exchange instead makes a profit, in the same way financial exchanges do, by charging a commission on winnings. The commission rates are generally far less than a bookmakers margin and so on the whole you can get better value with an exchange.

The model, the brainchild of Andrew Black and Edward Wray, also offered punters a means to become their own bookmaker. For the first time bettors could lay odds to other people, winning now when the punter lost.

This system allowed people to arbitrate, placing bets at favourable odds with a bookie and then laying those bets on an exchange, so that no matter the outcome you guarantee a profit.

Exchange betting has taken the industry by storm and has certainly taken a slice out of the fixed odds bookmaking market. Then again it has also become a tool for bookmakers themselves who can lay bets on exchanges to balance a book on an event.

Most people still however just want a quick and easy way to place bets and don't want to think too much about the maths behind their wagers. Therefore the exchange market won't completely replace fixed odds bookmaking and there is certainly room for both products in the vast online landscape.

If you would like to read more about exchange betting and arbitrate visit our exchanges page.

The Future of Gambling Online

It is always hard to predict what will be the next big thing, if we could do that we would all be millionaires as we would know where to invest our pennies for the future.

There are some gambling trends that are certain to continue, for the near future at least. The biggest changes we will see will be dependent on faster connection speeds and better technology:

Mobile Betting

Gambling is moving away from clunky desktop machines to smaller devices and this is driving changes in the way people bet. Punters are now betting less in advance choosing to wait until closer to the event with the convenience of being able to bet any time, any where.

Faster devices and faster internet will only serve to accelerate this tendency. Many new betting sites are now designed for small screen devices and are simply scaled up for desktop.

Live In Play Betting

The rise of mobile and faster internet connection speeds means more and more bets are placed live in play during events. This trend will only continue to grow with many betting markets tailored to this form gambling.

Faster algorithms means odds can now be calculated almost instantly with less reliance on odds traders. This means more and more markets will become available and betting on actions that occur within seconds not minutes will become more common. Recently it even became possible to bet on horse racing live during the race.

Cash Out

When Did Online Gambling Start In Uk History

The ability to cash out your wager before the end of an event has added a whole new tactical dimension to betting. It allows punters to use their own objective (and subjective) insights to choose the optimal moment to cash out a bet.

This is effectively a means of mitigating risk, and used correctly can be hugely profitable, or at least can reduce loses. Beware however when cashing out you are in effect giving the bookmaker a double margin.

Betting Exchanges

The popularity of exchange betting is sure to rise as more and more people become familiar and more trusting of the system.

The rise of mobile betting will also help the exchange as exploiting changes in the market is critical to making a profit and to do that effectively you need to be online as much as possible.

Specialist Betting Sites

The trend so far has seen most online bookmakers spread into multiple products, betting sites now offer poker, casino, Vegas, games, financial, exchange sections., etc. This is great for those that like to have lots of options in one place however for many the size and complexity of modern online bookmakers is a put off.

Over the next few years I expect to see more and more specialist sites popping up, designed to offer just one type of betting. This is already common with horse racing, an example being RaceBets, and betting this way can be more valuable if you only wager on certain sports.

Safer and More Responsible Gambling

Gambling law in the UK is some of the best in the world for protecting the vulnerable, short of banning gambling entirely, but no matter how good the laws are there will always be vulnerable people that get caught up with addiction. Thankfully licenced UK bookies must take this seriously and are expected to monitor suspicious or unusual behaviour.

Overall bookmakers do a good job of spotting unusual betting activity and offer plenty of tools to help those who want to restrict access to sections or the site entirely. I expect in the future this will only get better, although this must be a balance between protecting people's privacy to make a wager vs. protecting those with addiction.

More Sports & Markets

With access to so much information these days we as a nation now bet on more sports and markets types than ever before. The future is going to see a dramatic rise in popularity in less traditional sports such as eSports and virtual reality sports.

Don't get me wrong these new games will never get near the likes of football for betting interest but they will become more everyday markets. Many of those now excited by the likes of eSports are fairly young, as this demographic ages we will see more interest in this type of gambling. As these sports are primarily streamed over the internet faster connection speeds and better gaming tech in the future will no doubt also bolster the rise.

More Streaming

Many of us now spend more time watching content online rather than through television. Watching online gives us access to millions of streams from thousands of sports and games and this increased exposure will drive an increase in interest in 'lesser' sports and leagues from both punters and bookies.

The recent increase in the number of online bookmakers that stream sports is also likely to grow. Many sports are cheap for bookies to stream and they are also investing more in streaming services with the knowledge that a lot of punters now prefer to watch when betting. Smaller sports themselves are also realising that access to more viewers is more important than revenue form broadcast rights.

This is a model tennis has followed with most matches now widely available to watch from betting sites such as Coral. This has served to increase interest in non-Grand Slam tour matches which has in turn increased attendance and sponsorship revenues for the sport.

Algorithms

Pricing markets is still largely down to human factors but in the future we are going to see more intelligent artificial odds predictions that will increase market size and speed.

Even today algorithms are responsible for setting most odds lines, particularly for live betting markets, however the odds trader will still manually check the vast majority of these lines as well as constantly adjusting their book to optimise exposure to the market. As artificial intelligence gets more sophisticated we can expect less manual interaction and in return punters will see larger depth of market and quicker price updates.

Less 5000/1 Outsiders

One thing that bookies have learned more so than ever is that predictions are exactly that, predictions, and this was seen in particular back in 2016 when bookmakers got it badly wrong no less than three times.

Leicester City won the Premier League and were initially priced initially 5000/1, this cost bookmakers millions. In reflection, the odds are outlandish, here you are saying a team like Leicester wouldn't win the league, on average, in less than 5000 attempts. Remembering there are only 20 teams in the Premier League and that football is a low scoring game favouring underdogs, It is absurd to suggest an upset like this is that unlikely.

A similar story was seen again with the British decision to leave the European Union which at one point was priced near 15/1 and Donald Trump to win the presidency at over 25/1 when he announced his decision to run.

The reason you see what we think in retrospect are high odds is because bookies seek to balance books. To do this they need people to bet on other options other than the favourite and so will price these higher than their real chances of occurring. I doubt in future however you will see odds as ridiculous as 5000/1 for a team to win the league before the start of the season.

Voice Betting

I'm waiting for the day that a bookie is going to launch voice betting. With the tech now available you shouldn't be far away form betting just by talking to your phone or computer.

Global Betting?

I still find it very strange that you can have an online account but if you walk across a border from say Spain to France you may suddenly be restricted from placing a bet. This is down to the fact that every country has their own perspective on gambling and their own laws to go with it.

It is also bizarre that a traditionally conservative country, the United Kingdom, has some of the most open gambling regulation in the world whereas in the United States, a country the proclaims liberty and freedom as its base, gambling online is largely illegal.

The future will either see greater restriction on online betting or we may see international agreements that allow gambling control on a global level. I hope it is the latter option, not just for peoples freedom to have a bet but also because it will help to reduce illicit, illegal and fraudulent betting sites that tarnish the legitimate industry.

Multiple Account Betting

With so much choice in life we have less and less loyalty and this couldn't be more true with online bookmakers. In the old days you would usually have a favourite high street bookie, usually the closet to your house, but now you can choose between hundreds of sites from any location you like.

Bettors are exercising their right to choice more than ever before and why not. Online bookmakers have far lower overheads than their land based cousins and so they pour more resources into providing high value bonuses and free bet offers when you sign up as well as a suite of regular reward offers. This makes it difficult as a punter not to shop around.

I've found I now bet with more bookies than ever before although I still have a go to betting site for most of my betting. For me that is Ladbrokes as they are the best all round online gambling site. I do however place certain bets wit other bookies, sometimes based on offers and sometimes on odds. Doing this I am trying to maximise my chances of winnings, just as you would shop around to save yourself money when buying anything else.

There are on the other hand better reward schemes for existing customers than ever before. Whether these are enough to stop you being tempted by the various price boosts, freebies and other features available elsewhere I'm not sure.

If you can't be bothered having multiple accounts and want an online bookie for that rewards loyal custom then check out our best offers for existing customers. If on the other hand you want to see shop around for the best deal have a browse of our offers page.