Gambling at home wins new converts

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, said the United States was making as big a mistake in its recent action against online gambling companies as it had with alcohol prohibition in the 1920s. Her feisty stance may have horrified addiction campaigners but it gave a welcome shot in the arm to internet gaming firms.Then, last Wednesday, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary announced that the passengers on his airline would soon be able to play bingo in-flight. Indeed, so sure is O’Leary that his passengers are itching to gamble that he has struck a deal with online gaming group Jackpotjoy to offer blackjack and fruit machine games on Ryanair’s website.   Internet gambling has gone from nowhere to everywhere in the last five years. Ladbrokes, one of the UK’s biggest bookies, launched its internet site in 2001 and says it now accounts for 20% of its total sales. It is possible to play bingo, poker and other so-called casino games, as well as bet on sports and other major events, at the click of a mouse button. Ladbrokes told Scotland on Sunday that the Champions League final between Arsenal and Barcelona earlier this year and the World Cup in Germany marked a sea change for online betting. The company took more money online than from its high-street shops for the first time. Indeed, betting on football over the internet continues to be the fastest-growing area for online revenue at Ladbrokes. Another booming area has been betting on reality television shows such as Big Brother and Love Island. A Ladbrokes regional spokesman explained: “Reality TV betting is predominately an online experience, probably because it tends to attract a younger audience who have access to the internet either at home or at work.” Despite the economies of scale that come from operating online and not having to pay for premises on high streets, punters should not expect to get a discount by way of better odds from an internet bookie. The Ladbrokes spokesman said: “Most bookmakers try to have uniformity of odds between their shops and online, although we do run enhanced offers from time to time where we occasionally give better odds. We also run enhanced offers in our shops.” That said, it is possible to find the best odds online in a fraction of the time and without the legwork that would be required in the real world – especially advantageous on a dreich autumnal November afternoon. This is because a number of websites, such as BetRescue.com, exist which enable a punter to find which bookie is offering the best odds for a particular event. They work in much the same way as the online comparison sites for car, home and travel insurance in that they search through data on other websites to find the best deal. According to industry experts, this is changing the way people gamble. Whereas pre-internet a punter would have had a relationship with a single bookmaker, punters need to have a number of accounts with a range of bookies in order to take advantage of the best odds online. Gender divides in what people bet on online pretty much match those of the real world, with women far more likely to opt for bingo and slot or fruit machines. This is certainly reflected in the online offerings of traditional bingo groups including Mecca and Gala. It is as cheap to play over the internet as it is at the local bingo hall, with games running round the clock. The sheer volume of people playing bingo and poker online does offer the possibility of bigger jackpots. Ladbrokes’ poker games, which can handle players speaking 12 languages and paying in 20 currencies, has half a million players who play at least once a month. Scotland, in particular, has been driving the growth in online bingo in the last year, since the introduction of the country’s smoking ban. Rank said that some 65% of bingo players were also smokers, driving business online. A spokesman for Rank Group, which owns the Mecca bingo clubs, explained: “Bingo online has the potential to offer bigger jackpots as more and more people play. We recently gave away £50,000 to one internet player in Scotland and there is certainly the potential for that to go even higher on some games.” A note of caution should be injected at this point, as gambling online can also be risky, as pointed out by a number of blogs by experienced internet gamblers. These draw attention to the problems of getting payouts from a casino floating around in cyberspace. Indeed, companies exist which do nothing other than track down missing payouts. Experts advise sticking to one of the well-known names to ensure that any wins, especially from games such as blackjack, poker and roulette, are paid out. Finally, those looking to place a so-called novelty bet – such as that their newborn son will captain Scotland in a football World Cup final – will still have to make the trek to their local bookies or at the very least pick up the phone, because as yet gambling websites do not offer the facility to e-mail in such bespoke bets.