London Olympics Boost Sports Betting at British Bookies

The 2012 London Olympics is not only delivering lots of hot action and excitement to spectators and sports bettors. Land-based and online sportsbooks operating under British gambling laws reveal a considerable surge in betting action thanks to the Games. The most popular events punters bet on include swimming, football and tennis.

United Kingdom gambling news report that Betfair’s sports betting volume has nearly doubled, while William Hill’s business is expected to reach a record-breaking GBP 30 million stakes over the two weeks London Olympics are held.

British newspaper, the Guardian, comments: “While that only equates to an average Saturday during the Premier League football season, it is far in excess of levels during previous Olympics and most predictions made before the Games.”

Mark Maydon, representative of one of the most popular online sportsbooks in United Kingdom, Sporting Index, stated: “London 2012 levels of business, measured by number of bets we’ve taken, is up by a factor of nine versus Beijing.”

He went on to add: “Indeed, just as the Olympics has dominated the media, so it has also dominated the minds of our customers: 70 percent of our clients who have been active betting with us in the past two weeks have had at least one bet on the Olympics.”

Wagers on the number of gold medals Team GB will produce at the end of the Games is quite popular with punters. Currently 27 golds are expected to be won, an increase from 24 medals predicted at the start of the London Olympics.

Increasing number of bets placed on the Olympics is good not only for the sportsbooks themselves, British coffers will also be filled with increased amount of taxes collected from the gambling establishments.