How the betting shop industry began in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has the highest concentration of betting shops throughout the country, with several large powerhouse operators that own a majority of these. This all began back in the 1960s when the United Kingdom government introduced the Betting and Gambling Act, which basically legalized betting shops in the region. Since then, several thousand shops have been put in operation and have created a massive market.

The first betting shops to open started the day that it became legalized, as operators had about a year to prepare before the new law went into effect. For quite some time betting shops popped up all over the place at a quick pace of 100 a week. Within just six months of the new act being passed it was estimated that there were already over 10,000 betting shops in the UK, and this number was continuing to grow.

Betting shops were legalized in an effort to remove all forms of illegal gambling from the streets, which was developing as a major issue. By legalizing it, the industry could license out to individuals that would practice honest gambling services and address problem gambling, and at the same time they could be taxed in order to bring in additional revenue for the government.

The biggest change that this new act presented was that betting was no longer a shady business, but instead turned into something that was more mainstream and accepted by a large portion of the population. Betting shops became a safe haven for punters that wanted to bet big without risk of being cheated or being sucked into criminal activities.

Betting, although vastly more accepted, never gained approval from everyone. As a result, betting shops were not allowed to advertise their services and had to darken their windows so that they wouldn’t attract too much attention.

It wasn’t long before most of the small operators sold out to larger businesses, such as William Hill and Ladbrokes. They were swallowed up by the dozen ,which has created a market in which most betting shops are owned by large companies instead of a bunch of small individual ones. You have probably never head of JJ Simonds, Ken Munden, or even Fred Parkinson – which were all small time betting shop operations that sold out.

In order to lighten the industry, 1986 brought about a new law that would allow these shops to open up a little bit and redesign themselves. Betting shops were no longer going to be seen as dark and secluded areas, but would now be a more centralized market. It was during this time that two other brand names became big in the betting shop industry, which was Coral and Mecca.

Since this time there have been other big changes to the industry, but this set the precedence for further operations. We now have operators that operate from offshore areas in order to reduce taxes and costs, we have companies that have merged together to create joint services, and we have the United Kingdom Gambling Commission which helps to regulate these shops and keep them in check.