How Online Gambling Became One of Britain's Fastest Growing Industries
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It may be a surprise to many people that stay offline, but the UK is a massive cog in the global industry of online gambling. The fact is though, there are now hundreds of sites with a UK license, and the value of the British industry has climbed over a massive £14 billion a year.
What exactly has made this such a major phenomenon across the country, and how has it developed so far from the bookies and Brighton’s seafront casinos of old?
The world of online betting games has come a very long way in a few years. Betting providers and bookmakers are expanding into areas they’ve never been in before and the range might surprise you.
Take Paddy Power, the quintessential sports bookies in the eyes of the British public. Even a quick look on their site though will tell you how much more is there, from virtual table games to slot games for real cash in huge numbers.
This has become the standard for the ‘old guard’ of betting companies, and it’s hard to find a single one that stays limited to one game type. Even wheel games run like game shows are options now, and as they’ve started to introduce such top-end technology as virtual reality, you can easily expect that variety to grow.
Speaking of technology, the online casino world hasn’t fallen behind any of the biggest trends. In the UK alone, 87% of people own a smartphone as of 2021 stats, and betting from your mobile has now become extremely simple. We now use our smartphones for just about everything we need, and while some do prefer the atmosphere of communal betting in a casino or bingo hall, having the peace and quiet to play at home, on the bus or even on the lunch break is appealing for a large number.
Whether it’s slots, table games, live sports or any other kind of betting, you can generally find them available on iOS or Android across a whole range of providers. Slots in particular are specifically designed to be mobile-friendly these days.
Essentially, betting has climbed out of the traditional bookie offices and thanks to adapting, it has been opened up to a whole new world of players.
Riding the trends
If any bandwagon has been the one to jump on in the last years, it has to be the big drive towards cryptocurrency. As of 2022, there are over 220 million crypto users worldwide and there is a staggering $1 trillion invested in crypto.
The companies behind online casinos were naturally not far behind the trend, and it has become one of the fastest industries to widely adopt crypto as a standard payment. Most of the biggest sites now accept both deposits and withdrawals in some form of crypto.
Further than that, there are several specialist sites that have popped up that work exclusively with crypto, which has attracted the famously risk-loving investors into playing.
Where does it go from here?
Industry experts are pretty unanimous in that online gambling is only going to expand in the next few years. As far as the UK is concerned, online gambling is likely to become more and more a part of everyday life. You should expect to see a lot fewer betting slips and tiny pencils in the future as the whole market is set to go digital.
