From the national lottery to casinos and sports betting, the UK is the world’s premier gambling destination – and no wonder!
With 6,661 physical bookies in the region as of 2023 and plenty of gaming options online, local punters have nearly endless opportunities to bet on their favorite players and teams. Below, we’ll look into how sports betting began in the UK and how it has evolved into the multi-billion-pound industry it is today.
Sports Betting Beginnings
It is commonly agreed that sports betting began sometime in the 1500s in the UK. Horse racing was established as a solid English sport under Charles II by the end of the 1600s, and betting on the races followed shortly after.
However, real advancement in racing wagers didn’t happen until the 1790s – well ahead of the commercial adoption of casinos in the country. At this time, a man named Harry Ogden developed the first method to calculate odds for horse performance in a race. He began offering these odds and even included a margin for profit so that he could benefit from bets placed.
Into the 1800s, no laws existed to allow or disallow sports wagers. As such, there was no guarantee that winners would get their due – and if debtors failed to pay, chances were good that scary people would come to collect.
Early Legislation
The first regulations on gambling appeared in 1845 during the Victorian era via the Gambling Act, which aimed to dissuade people from betting by stating that a wager could not be considered a legal contract. This effectively left no recourse for anyone trying to claim their winnings from an unwilling payee.
However, the Act seemingly had the opposite effect. Instead of discouraging people from betting, it implied that placing sports bets wasn’t entirely illegal. As a result, even people who had previously worried about the legality of the pastime began placing bets.
A further attempt to limit sports betting on horse races occurred in 1853. Under the Betting Act, operating any betting shop outside a race track was made illegal. Again, the intent behind the Act failed when thousands flooded the race tracks each weekend to place bets on their favorite riders. Thus, the quintessentially British ritual was cemented in the local culture.
1900s Expansion
In 1923 and 1926, sports betting encountered two events that forever changed the landscape: The introduction of football pools and greyhound racing.
Offered new ways to bet on sports and racing events, punters began placing wagers en masse. One of history’s largest bookmakers, William Hill, went into business in 1934 by offering greyhound betting at the tracks.
Lawmakers finally acknowledged that prohibiting and limiting bets wasn’t working, so they reacted the only way they knew how: With more legislation. The 1930 Betting and Gambling Act set a new standard for bookmakers and once more made it legal to operate physical betting shops.
As gambling venues opened their doors across the UK, more sports began allowing bets. One significant driver of sports wagering was the inclusion of betting on the Premier League in 1992. Allowing bets on such an exclusive league helped bookies gain favor among punters and helped make sports betting into the commonplace pastime it is today.
Online Explosion
The first UK sportsbook available online appeared in 1996. Known as Intertops, the site was nothing like the sophisticated online bookies we have today. Intertops and its contemporaries offered basic betting and did not feature any perks and promotions like you’d find with no deposit slots on Casinos.com.
Still, the convenience of these online bookmakers was unrivaled at the time, allowing punters to support their favorite teams and players anytime and from anywhere within the UK.
However, as with gambling in the 1800s, there was no hard and fast regulation for online gambling at first.
To help the industry grow, in 2001, the UK government abolished the need to pay taxes on winnings and removed the rule that only three bets could be placed on a future game. While these new rules helped sports betting gain popularity, the basic regulation did not offer sufficient protection for more cautious players.
A few years later, the 2005 Gambling Act passed and created a comprehensive framework for all types of gambling, including sports betting. This Act also formed the UK Gambling Commission.
Under the new law, no operator could offer gambling services in the UK if they did not hold a license from the UKGC. This brought an entirely new level of trust to both online and physical bookmakers and helped sports betting go mainstream across platforms.
Future of Sports Betting
In recent years, you can’t watch a match without seeing endless ads for sports betting. And while the industry has exploded in popularity due to an open market and permissive legislation, its future may be less rosy.
Reports have surfaced that sports betting is driving problem gambling, especially among young people, and some have felt the need to respond. Among the first is the Premier League, which has banned gambling brands and bookies from sponsoring team shirts. This move has brought scrutiny to the sports betting industry and may herald more changes to come. However, it’s important to note that most punters support their teams safely without developing problem behaviors.
Ultimately, with sports betting so firmly rooted in local UK culture, it will be hard to eliminate. The continuous improvement of online gambling is sure to keep the industry moving even if lawmakers crack down on in-game advertising.
