Official language: English
Population: 60,975,000
Currency: Pound Sterling (GBP)

Current Exchange Rate
1 EUR = 0.9194 GBP
1 USD = 0.6132 GBP

Sports Betting in UK
Sports betting in United Kingdom is extremely popular and has a long history dating back hundreds of years. In the early 1800s there were already more than 400 bet shops set up in London alone. Things took a turn in a different direction in 1853, however, when all British sports betting was made illegal. The ban lasted for over 100 years. The industry of course continued underground during the ban, but it remained mostly hidden from public view.

Then in 1961, as UK gambling laws were re-written, sports betting was made legal once again. Almost immediately, bet shops began to crop up across the country. Today, there are over 8500 high street bookmakers in the UK, and the country is home to some of the largest bookmakers in the world. Sports betting is second only to bingo in popularity.

Online Sports Betting in UK
The transition of UK sports betting from high street betting shops to internet betting has been a gradual one. All the major high-street bookmakers now offer their services online. These massive online sportsbooks typically focus on UK events, but also cater to an international audience, and offer wagers on matches all across the globe.

One big advantage that UK internet bookmakers have over their high street counterparts is that online sportsbooks often offer better odds. This is due in part to lower overheads, but also because online sportsbooks make use of major betting exchanges that match Back and Lay bets, which in turn decreases the bookmaker’s profit margins and shifts the numbers in favour of the punters. Because of this, bookmakers tend to dislike online sportsbooks, but market trends show that they are here to stay.