Two stories over the past few days can only have reinforced the view of some – perhaps many – sports fans that the UK’s gambling industry is out of control. First came the news Bet365, the country’s biggest online bookmaker, boosted its profits by a third in 2017 to £682m, with “in-play” betting accounting for 77% of sports revenue over the year, up from 72% in 2016. A day later, the Gambling Commission released a report that suggests the number of British 11- to 16-year-olds classified as “problem” gamblers has quadrupled to more than 50,000 over the past four years.
Bet365, of course, is the firm that has turned Ray Winstone into one of the most talked-about actors in British TV, even if the talk is, for the most part, complaints that he is banging on about “the latest in-play odds” again. And also the one that took a £25k bet from a 19-year-old student, and started to ask questions about the source of her funding only when her bet stood to pay out £1m.
Related: Too many children are hooked on gambling. Why aren’t they protected? | Marc Etches
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