| The
amount Britons are gambling over the Internet has increased more than
six times in the last year, according to a survey on Tuesday by online
casino 888.com.
Ten percent of
British women and 16 percent of men said they would consider gambling
all of their worldly possessions for a $5 million jackpot, said 888.com,
which analysts say may be the next online casino to list on the London
Stock Exchange.
Its survey of over
2,700 people on streets around Britain found a 566 percent increase in
the amount of money they staked online since the end of 2003.
Online gambling is
becoming a booming industry in Britain, one of the few jurisdictions
where it is welcomed.
Last week, the
world's biggest online poker company, PartyGaming, said it was
considering what would be one of London's largest listings in over three
years -- estimated at over 3 billion pounds ($5.7 billion).
And in October,
shares in Britain's Sportingbet -- the world's biggest online betting
firm overall -- soared by over 50 percent following its acquisition of
Paradise Poker, a rival to PartyGaming fronted by American supermodel
Caprice.
Moves to ease
gambling regulation in Britain have hit resistance from anti-addiction
campaigners and the tabloid media.
Mark Griffiths,
professor of gambling studies at Nottingham Trent University, told
Reuters there was little evidence so far that gambling over the Internet
is more harmful than other gambling.
He warned that it
was possible, however, that gambling with virtual money lowered its
psychological value and that online casinos could cause problems for
those with addictions because it is available 24 hours a day.
888.com on Tuesday
announced its international membership had risen to 13 million this week
from 2.7 million in 2002. |
