Online sports betting is fast becoming one of the biggest industries online and it is not hard to see why. Betting online is quick, easy and offers a lot more markets than traditional high street betting shops. Way back in 1996, when the internet was just a baby, there was only 30 or so sites that allowed users to place bets on anything from blackjack to soccer. Even in its infancy then the gambling industry was raking in a massive $17million from online revenue. By the turn of the Millennium this had risen exponentially to over $3billion and by 2003 this had doubled to more than $6billion in just the US.
When you look at the annual turnover of worldwide online betting it is an absolutely astonishing amount of money. According to the gambling board of Great Britain the worldwide turnover in 2001 for all gambling was £638billion with £21billion of this being wagered online. Online sports betting got a £9billion slice of this.
With huge amounts of money to be made, it is no wonder that all the major bookers quickly flocked to the internet to get in on the action. As well as the well known brands, specialist sites began to spring up everywhere. These sites had no real world presence and were designed purely to capture the growing number of punters looking to place there bets with a click of a mouse. 20Bet there is well over 50,000 sites all looking take your bets. It is hardly surprising there are so many sites as the Online Gambling Research and Markets Group predicts that by 2015, the turnover in the online betting world will reach at least $125billion.
So, with the numbers rising ever higher it is clear betting online becomes more and more popular everyday. For the majority of people, placing bets online makes their sport more exciting and they may even earn the odd bit of cash with the right technique. But it seems if you want to make the big bucks, you are going to have to become a bookmaker.