Sports betting via the web has yet to become popular in the UK, according to research published last week by London-based market researcher Mintel Ltd. The Sports Betting report found that less than 0.5% of survey respondents had placed bets online in the last year, compared to 20% who had visited a betting shop, and 93% who had bought a National Lottery scratch-card. And only 1% of adults found the idea of web betting appealing.
The report claims online betting could be key to the international expansion of sports gambling, however. All major UK bookmakers could take bets online by mid 1999, and the advent of interactive digital television means the prospect of being able to bet on the outcome of a sporting event, while watching it on TV at home, looms.
