Bet365 – Sports Gamblings Pole Position

The sports betting market in the UK has a long tradition that has in many ways held it back, but the internet changed all that, and so did Bet365

Bet365's success in dominating the sports betting market stems from its technological prowess, its care to provide excellent customer service, and the fact that most Britons are inherent gamblers whether they believe they are or not. This doesn't actually stem from the acceptance of sports betting that has been legal since the mid sixties but been around for far, far longer. The tales of wagers twixt the gentlemen of the aristocracy are legend and the working classes were no less inclined, and this historical context leaves sports betting in the UK without the negative connotations it has elsewhere.

However that doesn't explain the huge popularity of sports betting in the UK, the weather explains the huge popularity of sports betting in the UK. Why? It's simple. Some of you live in places with a climate, where the weather for a particular season can be pretty much predicted day by day, the British live on an island adjacent to the North Atlantic and don't have climate as such, they just have weather, which can't be predicted accurately for the next fifteen minutes let alone into tomorrow. This means the phrase “This weekend we'll all go out for a nice family picnic, won't that be fun?” is a gamble of mammoth proportions as the odds are in favor of you ending up wet, miserable and arguing with the small sardonic voice in the back of the car that keeps saying “I told you it was going to rain, Dad.”

The British live gambling every bit as much as a workaholic pit boss in Vegas because there is an inherent lack of predictability in our day to day lives. This means we're far more likely to wager small amounts of money on just about anything, and indeed even those whose minds are hard set against the sins of gambling will still have “a flutter” on special occasions. The famous sporting events that capture the public's fickle imagination have long brought out the gambler in the average Briton. The FA Cup final and the Grand National attract people to bet who wouldn't do so the rest of the year, unless it's to bet on whether or not there will be snow on Christmas day (Yes, people really do bet on that).



For Bet365 then, this was an expansive market that had little or no provision of supply beyond the bricks-and-mortar betting shops that had long been regarded as less than savory and put off far more than they attracted. As the internet began to invade our homes, offices, phones and media there was an opportunity to be bring this desire for “a flutter” out from the grim bookies premises of the 1970s and into people's own homes. What is more their far wider range of opportunities played into the British tendency towards the eccentric and helped propel them into position as the number one online sportsbook in the UK.

Inclusive Approach Pays Dividends

Internet gambling in the UK had existed prior to Bet365's 2001 launch but no one had done it as slick, or as stylishly, nor had they provided such a wide range of opportunities. The traditional names in the bookie business unwilling, or unable, to keep step with the pace of development in both technology and social attitudes, were left behind by this radical vision of the future that was presented by Bet365's site and approach. Where others fixated on particular sports believing they were concentrating on “the fans”, who they believed were more likely to gamble consistently, Bet365 catered not just for them but for everyone else as well.

Bet365 Biggest Online Gambling Site
• Over 2100 employees
• Revenues of over $1bn
• Making gambling news headlines

This scatter-gun-esque approach might have been useless as a strategy in the days of fixed location betting shops, but on the internet it makes far, far more sense, and gave access and motivation for engagement to a far larger audience of potential customers. “The fans” of any given sport tend to look down on anyone who isn't “a fan”, and that attitude tends to come across on sites that cater specifically to them, Bet365's approach managed to incorporate provision for “the fans” without excluding the wandering wagerers that inhabit the highways and byways of the internet, and their revenues rose accordingly.

This inclusive approach was matched by the disconnect and privacy that the internet provided. There was no betting slip you could lose, your neighbors were less likely to catch you coming out of the bookies on the corner, and there was no embarrassment if you didn't know precisely what you were doing. Bet365 made people aware of the possibilities at their fingertips and the sports betting markets themselves opened up as this access was seized upon by punters who had been limited by the old regime. Football for example had long been dominated in betting terms by the weekly Pools competitions run by various companies.



The success of the Pools was mostly down to the disconnect from the rest of the gambling world. Small amounts wagered easily from home, at that time by post or visiting representative, made it simple and clean, and was seen as almost harmless due to the low stakes and high value win possibilities. It was, by many, seen more as a lottery than as sports betting, but the arrival of the internet at Bet365 brought the same disconnect and a far more in-depth range of betting options. One could back the local team to win a single match or the whole season, football was no longer just an excuse, but a focus, and this paid huge dividends with both fans and non-fans alike.

Huge Growth In Mobile Market

The online sports betting market in the UK is currently valued at some 650 million GBP, and it has shown healthy growth figures both prior to and since the global fiscal issues that beset the world in 2009. In fact since that crisis a rise in the online gambling market within the UK of 7% has occurred which is very healthy in a time of “austerity”. This value can be seen as an amalgamation of the recreational, sophisticated and occasional gambling types which contribute 440 million, 150 million and 60 million GBP respectively. It is catering for all three types in equal measure, rather than concentrating on either of the first two, that has made Bet365 so successful.

Likewise their ready and purposeful moves into the cross-platform facility provision market of the mobile betting world has seen Bet365 access itself into a steadily growing market segment within sports betting. Estimates suggest that by 2015 17% of all gambling across Europe (that's a market of 450 million people) will be via mobile devices and platforms. That sea change will have massive knock-on effects but with a superb technical basis Bet365 is in an enviable position to take advantage of it as it happens in real time as it continues to be an “early adopter” of new innovations and developments.



Expansion, both in terms of market coverage, opportunities for the customers and in scope and size, has been a hallmark of Bet365 and extends into a desire to see the 21% participation rate of women in online gambling grow as the social attitudes to gambling relax in line with an ever more uncertain world. The social stability that were the basis of the Pools and Tote have been largely swept away and with a new brighter image linked in with a sociability factor brought upon by “Live” betting online it is entirely likely we'll see a growth of women in all three gambling types across the UK.

Over the next five years there is expected to be similar, if not a tad improved, growth figures in the online gambling market reaching perhaps 10% in good years, and for Bet365 there are likely to be a lot of good years as they have positioned themselves at the nexus of the sports gambling market. Being desired of presenting the public with something to wager on at any hour, 365 days a year, Bet365 offers everything from Greyhound racing to Formula 1, and the hyped media coverage of big events getting ever larger is encouraging ever more people to log on and take part.