Largest Betting Companies

Did you know that you could make so much out of sports betting? This is one of the fast-growing ventures in South Africa. The high number of people that are registered to these companies is a proof that the business has a very high likelihood of turning their lives. How about evaluating the five best sports betting companies and going through the services that each one of them has to offer.

• Largest Betting Companies Uk
• Online Betting Companies Stock
• Online Betting Companies
• Online Betting Companies

Betting Companies Betting in the UK is big business and the days of the small independent high street bookmaker have long since passed. Both high street and online betting companies are.

Ladbrokes is a well-known name among gamblers and the company quickly jumped to the top of the list. In 2016, the company has a worth of $1.86 billion, which was drastically increased to $4.78 billion in 2017. In this article we are going to list the 15 largest gambling companies in the world. Click to skip ahead and jump to the 10 largest gambling companies in the world. Gambling is addictive, just.

Would you risk your money to test your lucky stars? Are you willing to place a bet and make the most of it? If that is the case, how about doing so via a company like 1xBet or Parimatch that is going to give you value for your money. This list of the five best sports betting companies will provide you with the best options to choose from. It will also guarantee companies with the most user-friendly websites whose services will amaze you.

The best betting companies in South Africa

Out of the forty gambling sites that the National Gambling Board has awarded licences to, some stand out from the rest for their unique ways of appreciating their customers. Others stand out for their user-friendly websites. These are by far the top five betting sites in the country:

READ ALSO: 1xBet South Africa: First Deposit Bonus Rules 2019

1. 1xBet South Africa

Image: www.1xbet.com
Source: UGC

1xBet is one of South Africa's oldest and best betting site. The website has the largest threshold of punters in the county. The large number of people registered is enough to convince you about the services that it offers. These are some of the features that have attracted them to the site:

The user-friendly website

1xBet is one of the few betting sites whose website is so straight-forward and its functionality easy to juggle through. For one to enjoy the services that the site has to offer, they have to ensure that they create an account. The process of registering an account is as simple as clicking here.

Simple registration procedures

The website provides four different ways in which one can register a new account. These are the registration methods that one can choose from:

• Registration by one click: where one registers by inputting their phone number and their currency that they will be using for all their online sports betting activities on the site. After feeding in these details, the new user will receive a text message with their login details.
• Registration by email: this is a more detailed method and the new user will be required to feed in more details about themselves. These details include their phone number, email, identification number, currency and password.
• Registration by SMS: this is nearly the same as the one-click method, only that you will not be required to enter the currency. The only details that you will key in is your phone number.

1xBet app

The site stands as one of the best online gambling companies as it provides its users with an application that they can use for placing their bets. This is a more convenient way of accessing the site since it saves you the hustle of using the browsers for your operations.

The best rates for bonuses and premiums

1xBet is one of the websites that value their customers. It has set aside a series of bonuses that it offers its users. These are some of the premiums that you will enjoy by working with the company:

• 1xBet first deposit bonus: This is a premium that is awarded to a user after they have registered their account and made the first deposit into their account. The premium that one is awarded is normally 100% of the amount that they deposit into their account, even though the maximum limit that one is awarded a bonus is R1500. There are, however, rules that one should follow while using the bonus. To know more about how the bonus is used, click here.
• Lucky Friday bonus: This bonus is awarded to users once they credit money into their accounts on Friday. For every deposit that one makes, they are awarded 100% the amount that they would have deposited.
• Wednesday X2 bonus: This bonus is awarded to a user after they have deposited funds into their account on Friday, Monday and Tuesday that precede the Wednesday.

The other premiums that one enjoys by owning an account with the company include:

• Advanced bet: where a user places a bet even when they do not have funds in their account.
• Free bet: which is awarded to a user on their birthday.

With all these premiums, what else would you look for in other online gambling sites when 1xBet has a whole package for you? You do not have to think twice about registering an account as you do not have one. The company guarantees to give you value for your money.

2. Parimatch

Parimatch is another site that tops the list of the best sports betting websites in the country. It has been in operation for more than a decade and is proud to be one of the platforms that offers the best deals in terms of odds. The most fascinating thing is that it has the live bet option so one can place the bet in the middle of the game and increase their chances of winning. These are the other features that will attract you to the site:

The customer-friendly website

Parimatch has a customer-friendly atmosphere regardless of whether you are a first-timer or not. Unlike most sites, it has a menu that provides a punter with statistics on the matches that they want to place their bet on, how awesome is that?

The features on the website are also meant to make the process of manoeuvring through the website easier. It is also in English which makes operations on the site way easier. To add to it, it also provides for world sports betting which makes it convenient for one to select the different games that they would wish to place their bets on.

Promotions

As a part of customer appreciation, the website provides its customers with premiums. One of the bonuses that a new user enjoys is the first deposit bonus which value is 100%, the value that they will deposit into the account.

• Cashback in bet games: This feature allows one to get back a certain percentage of the money that they would have lost while placing their bets. It is only viable over the weekend and one ought to have placed a bet on Saturday and Sunday. The percentage that one receives as compensation is 20% of the amount that they risked as a stake for the two days. If a punter meets all the requirements of the bonus, the 20% will directly be credited to their account.
• Jackpots: The site also provides an option for jackpots where one stands a chance to win a lump sum amount for placing a bet on the selected games. The site provides users with this premium for soccer matches as well as casino games.

To find out more about the bonuses that one enjoys for betting on sports on Parimatch click here.

To enjoy these services, you ought to have created an account. The registration process is one click away.

3. SunBet bookmaker

Sunbet is in the list of the top-most reviewed betting companies in the country. It stands among the best betting sites because of the premiums that the company awards its customers. It also stands out from the rest because of the cash-out option that it provides. You might want to know more about these features that attract more punters every single day.

Sunbet Deposit Bonus Offer

Sunbet, in conjunction with Best Sports Betting, has come up with a special one. It awards its customers for the first deposit that they make into their account. The value of the deposit bonus is R200 which will be used as a bet. The premium is awarded to every new user as they credit their account, regardless of the amount that they will deposit into the account.

To access the Sunbet R200 deposit bonus, you will be required to register an account through the company's website. You will then be required to credit a minimum of R50 into your account. Immediately after making the first deposit into your account, you will receive a notification about the R200 being credited to your account. The bonus will reflect on your bet slip.

Sunbet Sign-on bonus

Apart from the premium that is awarded to a punter on their first deposit, one also qualifies for the Sunbet sign-on bonus which is also awarded after the first deposit has been made. A new user receives a premium which worth is 100% of the amount that they deposit into their account. The 100% is awarded on a deposit maximum limit of R1000.

Immediately after they make their first deposit, they will receive a notification of the bonus being awarded. There, however, are limitations on how the premium is to be used. One needs to make a bet with not less than five selections and the minimum odd for each one of the selection is 1.70.

Apart from the bonuses that are awarded upon registering an account, there are other premiums that punters enjoy when placing bets on the site. The website also provides the best value for odds, making it one of the best betting sites in the country. You should consider creating a betting account with Sunbet.

4. Betway, South Africa

Image: instagram.com, @betway_sa
Source: UGC

Betway South Africa is by far the fastest growing betting company in the country. The company has shown off its muscle and potential for growth by providing some of the best deals that have helped it strategically positioning itself in the business. These are some of the reasons that have made it top in the list of the most preferred companies:

The user-friendly website

Betway has the most user-friendly atmosphere. That makes it easy for new users to juggle through the operations on the site. The website does not require one to have a computer for them to use. It can comfortably be accessed using a phone and tablet.

Betway app

In a bid to make it possible for users to conduct operations on the website, Betway has the application which allows one to carry out operations with ease. You do not have to go through the hustle of using your browser to access the site when you have the application installed.

Cash Out

Betway is among the three main websites that offer punters with the cash-out option. This option enables one to settle a bet before the end of the game. This option is convenient as it operates in two ways: one can close their bet when it looks like it is about to be lost. This helps to save the money that they would have lost if they had left the bet to run until the end of the game. The second instance allows one to close their bet if it was a winning one and they wish to have their money early. Knowing how to operate the cash-out option will save you from losing your money.

Betway Free Bet

The more you place your bets with the websites, the more awards you get. You can keep track of the amount of money that is credited to your account through the box on the top right corner of your home page. After making the selection of your bet, you can select the 'use my free bet' option to place your bet.

Betway Sign-on Bonus

Just like most websites, Betway also offers its customers a sign-on bonus. The value of the bonus is 125% the amount that one deposits on their account. There, however, is a limitation of the maximum amount that one should deposit for them to qualify for this bonus. The value of the maximum limit for the bonus is R1000.

The numerous deposit options

Betway offers its customers several deposit options to choose from. They include FNB, Absa, I-Pay, Mastercard, Investec, EFT, Nedbank, OTT, SID, Visa, Standard Bank, 1Voucher. Withdrawal can also be made through most of these options.

Betway is one of the most convenient betting sites in the country. Besides these features, it also provides punters with football betting tips that could come in handy.

5. Sportingbet

Sportingbet is another convenient site in the list of the top betting bookies in South Africa. These are some of the factors that have attracted most punters to it:

Cash-out option

Just like Betway, Sportingbet also has the cash-out option that punters can access and save themselves from losses.

First deposit bonus

Sportingbet also offers a bonus for the first deposit that one makes in their account. New users receive a 100% for their first deposit and the maximum amount that one can deposit for them to be awarded the deposit is R2000.

Rewards club

This is another strategy that Sportingbet is using to ensure that its customers get value for their money. For every wager worth R10 that one places, they are awarded with one point. The number of points increases with the amount of wager that one places. The points can be converted into money and used for placing a bet. How awesome is that?

Sportingbet promotions

Sportingbet also offers some of the most unique promotions. They include:

• Money Back Multiple: One gets their money back if 1 leg of the football multiple spoils the bet.
• Tennis Multi Special: One gets their money back when 1 leg of the tennis multiples spoils the bet.
• Refer a friend: One earns R150 for referring a friend to the site.

With these features, Sportingbet is one of the few bookies that guarantees to gives punters value for their money.

You can also try out your luck by checking out:

1XBet

BetWay

BetWinner

22 Bet

It is true what they say: you can’t win without trying. Why not to try it out today? Now that you know all there is to know about betting, it should be easier for you to play and even win. Why don’t you start by looking for a bet that works for you? It is easy to apply, play, and win. All you need is your smartphone or laptop, and you are good to go.

Sports betting sites in South Africa are a lucrative business. The high number of betting companies that are in the country is enough proof of that. The high numbers of customers who are registered to the companies is another proof. If you are a potential punter and are looking for recommendations on a site to register with, selecting one from these top five sports betting companies in South Africa will be the best choice.

READ ALSO:

• 1xBet South Africa registration: step by step guide and betting tips
• List of betting sites in South Africa
• Match-Fixing: A Phenomenon that Still Plagues the World of Football

You may look at the betting and gambling industry and think there is a lot of healthy competition, with hundreds of brands now vying for our pennies. Many companies however, although they might seem independent, are in fact part of the same group, and you may never know it. As with many markets, there are in fact a few big players and the rest are left to scramble for the remainder of the custom.

It isn't just the old high street bookies like William Hill and Betfred that occupy the top spots in the biggest betting company leagues. Many early online only bookmakers have already beaten the old land based operators, such as Bet365, and the world's biggest and first online exchange, Betfair. Mergers between already large companies such as Ladbrokes and Coral and Betfair and Paddy Power has created behemoth bookies. These giants have further merged to create collosus billion pound companies such as GVC and The Stars Group. The future of bookmaking in the UK is in the balance as it risks becoming a monopoly of a very few massive companies, very much like the energy markets.

In this article we also look at the development of the UK gambling industry, the size of the profits made along with the progressive switch to online betting and gaming.

Largest Betting Companies

Many mergers are often just about money. Coral didn't really bring anything new to Ladbrokes for example, but the merger between Betfair and Paddy Power in 2016 to create the third biggest betting brand was certainly mutually beneficial to both parties.

The group, renamed Flutter Entertainment, completed a second merger in 2020 with The Stars Group, owner of Sky Betting & Games, PokerStars and a whole host of other poker related sites. Together this group overnight became the largest betting company in the world in terms of revenue and market share (38% online market share at the time of the takeover). Unlike GVC the new Flutter Stars Group has a much more diverse portfolio and a bigger international reach so it is likely they will go on to strengthen their position at number 1.

Paddy Power, one of Ireland's biggest bookmakers, was founded in 1988 but it was the online age that really saw the brand come to life through its often controversial advertising strategies. Holding over 600 shops across the UK and Ireland and boasting retail revenues of nearly £1 billion Paddy Power brought the real world locations, marketing strategy and cash to the merger.

Betfair on the other hand had a very different history in the betting industry. Launching as a peer-peer betting exchange rather than a traditional bookie in 2000, Betfair became the biggest of its type in no time at all. Despite better odds on offer in the exchange, the market still remains fairly small (see later) and so in order to compete Betfair launched a fixed odds sports book in 2011. Betfair are the smaller party in the merger, generating less than £500 million in revenue. For this reason PP shareholders received 52% and Betfair 48% of the Flutter company when it was formed.

William Hill were ousted from top spot following the merger in 2016 of Britain's second and third largest bookmakers in 2015, completed 2016. The new company, imaginatively named Ladbrokes-Coral Plc, generated nearly £2.5 billion in revenue each year and employed over 30,000 people.

In 2018 the new group was further purchased by GVC (the former name of Entain) in a deal worth around £4 billion, adding further power to the brand on an international scale. GVC also own and run sites such as sportingbet (although we wouldn't recommend them to bet with), partypoker, Gala, Foxy and Bwin.

Ladbrokes, Britain's oldest betting company founded in 1886, and Coral, established in the 1926, have over 200 years experience of being a bookmaker between them. The group own nearly 4000 betting shops, although were forced to sell over 300 in their 2016 merger, and are two of the most recognisable brands on the British high street.

Coral, started by Joe Coral an on track bookmaker in the 1920's, grew rapidly following legalisation of off-course betting shops in 1961, becoming one of the first bookies to take advantage. Merging with another company in 1971 to become Coral Leisure the group was acquired by Bass in 1981. In 1997 Ladbrokes made their first attempt to buy Coral from Bass but this was blocked by the UK Monopolies and Mergers Commission at the time. Coral was sold to Morgan Grenfell, a private equity firm in 1999 and also merged with Eurobet, one of the first online betting sites, in the same year. Gala bingo, founded in 1991 and operating over 150 halls with an additional online presence, merged with Coral in 2005 to form the Gala Coral Group.

Ladbrokes was started by two men who acted as a commission agents for horses (trained at Ladbroke Hill). Following a move to London in the early 20th century the company became a bookmaker for rich clients. Falling on harder times following WWII the company was sold for just £100,000. The same legalisation of betting shops that drove Coral's rise in 1961 however reversed the fortunes of Ladbrokes too, who were later floated on the stock exchange for £1M in 1966. With forays into the hotel (Hilton Group) and home convenience industry the Ladbrokes group grew to second largest UK bookmaker. Prior to their Coral merger Ladbrokes also acquired BETDAQ, the second largest betting exchange, 2013.

The group now generate nearly half of their profits from digital sources and between them have more online customers than any other company. In late 2020 the group changed its name to Entain PLC. For more about each brand see our full reviews.

Bet365 meteoric rise has all come form the digital industry, and considering that only now is the online gambling market bigger than the high street (excluding national lottery) that is a pretty impressive performance. When they say in their advents that Bet365 is the worlds favourite online betting company they really are not lying.

Established in 2000 from a small temporary building in Stoke by now multi-billionaire Denise Coates, the highest paid woman in Britain, Bet365 now generates massive online revenues and is the largest private employer in Stoke. They even own the football stadium.

Denise started the business by borrowing against her fathers brick and mortar bookmaking business, established in 1974 by Stoke City chairman Peter Coates. Selling off the shops to Coral in 2005 Bet365 became an online only operator where they have gained a huge customer base of over 45+ million people from 200 countries. The brand has the best reputation within the betting and gaming industry from both punters and insiders and boasts one of the most loyal customer bases of any business.

Often cited as a success story of British online business, if you were to rule out the offline gambling sector then these guys would be the biggest. Multi-award winnings and constantly developing new technology and ideas the only way this company is going in the future is up.

For a long time William Hill were the largest betting company in the UK with over 2300 shops and just under £2 billion in annual revenues. The operator, which now generates up to £200 million in annual profits and is listed on the FTSE 250, comes from humble beginnings.

In 1934 the company was founded by Mr William Hill, who following some early failures and illegal enterprises found he could make money using a loophole that allowed off-course betting using credit or post. Hill's entered late into the betting shop industry, opening their first 5 years after the change in law in 1966, due to the founders belief they were a cancer to society. He relented when he saw how quickly his competitors were getting ahead.

The company changed ownership many times down the years. Bought for £700 million in 1997, the brand was again sold two years later for £825 million and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2002.

The William Hill group have had some corporate failures over the years but their aggressive strategy, especially online, has allowed them to dominate the market landscape. Probably the most well known bookmaker in the world, largely down to the fact Hill's have spread outside the UK more than any other bookie, and also due to their vast amount they spend on advertising and sponsorship.

The Betfred journey to becoming one of the biggest independent betting companies in the UK is more heart-warming than most others. Established from a single shop in Salford by Fred an Peter Done in 1967, the group now have a multi-billion turnover and up to £1 billion in revenues annually. Based in Warrington the company has never been sold or merged and remains in the same hands as it started in.

Fred Done is known in particular for paying our early on Manchester United to win the league twice only for them lose on both occasions (1998 and 2012). He also lost £1,000,000 in a private bet with Victor Chandler (owner of BetVictor) betting again on Man United, this time to finish higher than Chelsea in 2005 - which they didn't. Despite these misjudgements Fred is also known for inventing the Lucky 15 and other full cover bets.

The company has a large betting shop operation, and since buying around 300 shops that Ladbrokes-Coral were forced to sell now own in the region of 1650 stores in the UK. Famed for being one of the best racing bookmakers Betfred increased their exposure in this market by buying the tote in 2011 for £265. This allows them to licence totepool bets to other operators as well as providing bespoke tote bets others don't have. Despite this Betfred's future looks mixed and will likely hinge on how well they grow online in the coming years.

Kindred is a name you will likely not have heard of, it is in fact the rebranding of the old Unibet Group Plc following the acquisition of over a dozen other brands.

Fast becoming one of the biggest betting companies in Britain and Europe the Kindred group includes Stan James, 32Red, Bingo.com and Maria. Unibet is of course the jewel in the crown, the Scandinavian brand has grown to become one of the biggest online betting sites with over 15 million customers.

The future intention of this brand is clear from their recent history of takeovers, paying £19 million for Stan James (which includes a new real world presence) and £175 million for the top rated online casino 32Red.

888 is a thoroughly modern betting company, there is no romantic back story here. Now part of a rather convoluted corporate structure, 888 Holdings is the gambling arm of parent company Cassava Enterprises. Initially founded as Virtual Holdings running an early casino site, casino-on-net, by two Israeli business men, the company grew in step with the rise of the internet.

The brand was renamed 888 in 2002 and despite taking a hard hit when online gambling became illegal in many US territories in 2006 has continued to grow in all areas of online gambling. The group operate a sports (888 Sport) and poker site (888 Poker) along with several casino (e.g. 888 casino, 777 casino)) and bingo brands (e.g. 888 bingo, 888 ladies, Wink Bingo) with a distribution of 61% casino, 18% poker, 11% sport and 9% bingo.

888 are a global online specialist which will only grow in the future. The company was fined nearly £8M by the gambling commission in 2017 for failure to properly protect vulnerable gamblers in the UK. This may slow down the aggressive growth strategy of the company, although only slightly.

Market Share and Gambling Revenue Distribution

The pie charts above show a general representation of the distribution of gambling revenue in the UK. Offline gambling is still the largest sector as this include the national lottery (28%), compared to high street bookies (27%) and land-based casinos (5%) only online betting is larger (40%). The trend from offline to online is expected to continue in the future.

Within the online market casino is the largest (slots 37% and other games 15%), followed by with sports (40%). Exchange betting (3%), online poker (2%) and online bingo (2%).

The Size of the UK Gambling Industry

The UK gambling sector currently generates around £15 billion in annual revenues and is growing rapidly at up to 8% a year. Of this total over a third (£5 billion +) is made from online gambling, with a rough split of 60% casino and 40% sports betting.

The industry as a whole is responsible for contributing around £8 billion to the UK treasury each year and directly employs over 100,000 people (perhaps up to 500,000 if you include indirect employees).

High Street Bookmakers and Land Bases Casinos

Despite the constant shift towards online betting since the turn of the millennium there are still around 9000 betting shops in the UK (90% of which are controlled by Coral, William Hill, Ladbrokes and Betfred), 600 bingo halls, 1800 arcades and 150 land-based casinos (63 owned by the Rank Group and 41 by Genting). There are currently in the region of 200,000 gaming machines operated in the UK too, of which around 40,000 are the controversial fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs).

The National Lottery (and other lottery) revenues are also included in the overall gambling revenue figure. This make up to £3.5 billion of the total, with in the region of £250 million going back to good causes.

High street bookmaking is responsible for a similar figure, £3.5 billion annually, claiming over 95% of the non-remote gambling revenue in the UK. Pool betting (such as the Tote) makes up 4% with other sources, such as on-track bookies, making up just 1%.

Land-based casinos create £1 billion in annual profits. Just under half of this comes from roulette (44%), a quarter from blackjack (25%), a fifth (20%) form slots and other electronic games and the rest from other tables and games.

Online Betting and Casino

Approximately 57% of online gambling revenues comes from remote casinos. Of this three quarters derives from slots, with the rest coming from table and other games (an opposite trend to land based casinos). Poker, which is classified under casino, generates less than 2% of the total revenue.

Sports betting is the second biggest sector, producing up to 37% of the overall revenue. Of this around 54% comes from football betting, around 32% from horse racing and the rest from other sources (of which tennis makes up nearly half).

Other sources of revenue include exchange betting (~3%), online bingo (~3%) and pool betting (~0.5%).

In 2014 the online sector made up 29% of the total market share, by 2016 this had grown to 32%. By 2020 the industry could approach 50% of annual revenues generated from gambling related activities in the UK.

Evolution of High Street to Online Betting

Apart from the odd independent bookie and some of the stalls you see at racecourses, all bookmakers now provide online betting. Of course, it didn't used to be this way, and prior to the internet age breaking into the industry was easier said than done. For a full history of gambling see our dedicated page.

Pre-1960's

Prior to 1960 in the UK it was illegal to take bets away from horse and greyhound tracks. Gambling was heavily regulated by the government and although illegal operators did exist, overall you would find it hard to place a wager away from the track.

Bookies did still take bets off-course through loop-holes in the law that allowed bets to be taken by phone or through postal order. This is how William Hill started out. If you were rich enough of course there were always options open to you, Ladbrokes for example started out as a gentleman's bookmaker for high profile clients. If you were however a normal working-class lad or lass however, there were very few options open to you.

Even then most betting at the time was for horse and dog racing only. Football betting was largely outlawed, except for low stakes pool betting syndicate games, such as the football pools (which still exists today).

Basically before 1960 betting wasn't very easy as you needed to go to a race-track to do it (or do it illegally in a back street gambling den). That is unless you were rich when the law didn't really apply to you and you could bet through discreet merchants.

1960 Betting and Gaming Act and Betting Shops

In 1960 the government finally embraced the new age. Normal people had more disposable income in their pockets and they wanted more freedom with how to spend their money. The betting act for the first time allowed off-course gambling and by the following year, May 1961, a whole host of new betting shops opened across the length of the country at a rate of 100 a week.

Betting was still largely restricted to horse racing, with rules in place such as the 'trebles rule' on football. This meant all footy bets needed to be accumulators with at least 3 or more selections otherwise you couldn't bet. The only sports you could place singles on was racing.

Still this new industry was embraced by the people of Britain, sowing the seed that eventually led to the UK becoming the biggest gambling nation (per head) in the world.

One of the first people to open one of these new betting shops was Joel Coral and 10,000 shops are reported to have opened within the first 6 months. Ironically the UK's now biggest high street bookie, William Hill, initially refused to open betting shops, stating they were a cancer on society. He reneged in 1966.

1970s and 1980s

The bookmaker industry grew exponentially in the decades following legalisation of high street betting. By the 1970's there were 15,000 shops in the United Kingdom.

This is the time when many of the biggest names we know today made and solidified their reputation. Britain's oldest bookmakers, Ladbrokes, William Hill and Coral were earning so much that they even began to invest in other leisure sectors.

1990's

Despite the huge success of high street bookies in the previous three decades the industry had a restricted clientele. The vast majority of punters using betting shops were working class men and the reputation of stores as being seedy dark dens full of smoke and foul language didn't help to change this.

Largest Betting Companies Uk

Bookies sought to create a larger customer base by introducing new features, such as live sport in shops and new football coupons to encourage more diverse customers and bets. The removal of the 'trebles rule' on football in 1990's went a great way towards helping the bookies branch out, with punters now able to back singles on a range of sports.

A progressively better image, wider range of bets and markets, more televised sports (especially Premier League football) and an ever-increasing disposable income, saw the fortunes of bookmakers rise again.

By the mid-1990's the industry seemed locked down with five massive companies dominating the landscape, along with a few independents across the country. Many thought betting and gaming would be like this forever. That was until the internet came along.

New Millennium and the Internet

As the 1990's drew to a close a new threat began to emerge to the old established order, online betting. This was more dangerous to the established high street bookies than you might imagine.

High street bookmaking was regulated by various betting and gaming acts and more importantly bets were taxed (9p/£1 staked). Online gambling however was a little bit like the wild west, you could basically set up wherever you wanted, launch a website and start taking bets from customers – tax free.

Although avoiding tax on gambling stakes and winnings was at the time technically illegal it was almost impossible to police. New companies along with the old high street bookies began to set up new websites, mainly based off shore in Gibraltar or Malta, to take advantage of this tax free trade (most are still based there today).

In the late 1990's and early 2000's the market share online was still very low and although the new unregulated online trade was a concern it was not prevalent enough to cause changes yet. The bookies were still making enough from the high street even though tax avoiding new brands were now taking a slice of the profits.

Victor Chandler and Tax

In 1999 Victor Chandler (now BetVictor) moved his bookmaking business off shore to Gibraltar in protest at the betting tax rates in the UK, selling his 41 shops to Coral. This allowed Victor to provide betting opportunities to world-wide clients, particularly from Asia, without paying UK tax. It also allowed UK punters to bet without paying the 9p/£ stake tax.

It is believed it was this decision that led the then UK chancellor, Gordon Brown, to remove the betting tax in 2001. Saying that although he removed the tax paid directly by the punter new taxes were levied on the bookies profits earned in the UK and by this point the ship had largely sailed and most traditional bookies were running their online operation from abroad.

2005 Gambling Act

Eventually the government realised the status quo couldn't continue forever. This wasn't just about taxing companies either, anyone could set up a website abroad and this offered little protection to UK customers under law.

In 2005 the UK government created a new independent body that answers to the Department of Culture, known as the Gambling Commission. This body was set up to issue and regulate new UK gambling licences required by law under the new Act for any company wanting to provide gambling services (both offline and online) in the UK.

Overnight this changed the landscape of online betting, with all companies having to be licenced to operate legally in the UK. You can read more about this on our Licencing and Law page.

2010's

The old high street bookies had the best of all worlds. They still had their old high street operation, which while not growing at the rate of pre-online days, wasn't declining in the way many expected. It seemed both online and offline betting was flourishing and those big old companies were in the best position to exploit this.

Still they didn't have it all their own way. Already a few businesses that began in the late 1990's and early 2000's were beginning to outdo the old order, namely Bet365, Betfair and 888. Between them by 2010 they had secured a large proportion of the online market.

Online Betting Companies Stock

The second decade of the new century witnessed a critical switch, online betting overtook high street wagers. More and more people now had access to the internet, particularly on the move through mobile phones. Combined with the lack of stigmatism with betting online vs the high street, the industry saw its biggest growth since the 1960's.

It wasn't all win-win for the big bookies, the 2010's also saw a whole host of new companies launch into the market. Many of these new brands were not shackled by the costs of running a load of high street stores or by having a lot of employees. By also focusing on niche markets they were able to compete with the bigger companies. The effect of this has been a lot of mergers and acquisitions in recent years as the bigger operators try to hoover up competitors and new innovations.

2014 Gambling Act Amendment

By 2014 the majority of gambling was done online through companies based in non-UK markets. The result of this was the UK government losing out on a lot of tax.

The 2014 gambling act amendment was brought in for a number of reasons, such as more focus on responsible gambling and protecting vulnerable people. The main reason being honest though was to allow the government to better tax the industry.

The act brought in a new point of consumption tax for UK licenced betting sites and bookies. This meant, whether based in the UK or not, all merchants with who wanted to offer gambling services in the UK had to pay tax on their UK profits. This levelled the playing field, and to be frank played into the hands of the already bigger operators.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Online Betting Companies

Mergers and acquisitions are not a new thing among bookmakers, and many have been buying up smaller independents for years. The trend in recent years however of the big companies merging is unprecedented and perhaps represents a new era of bookmaking.

As with all free markets the challenge in the future will be maintaining competition. When markets are new (as online betting was in late 1990's, early 2000's) there are many new niches for companies to occupy. As time goes on however money talks and the bigger operators are able to buy up smaller players, either to incorporate their products or just to close down the competition.

Online Betting Companies

Only time will tell but there is a distinct possibility a number of betting companies will corner the market and, just as has happened in banking and energy markets, could begin to collude. This will only be a bad thing for punters and new companies looking to enter the market.