Legalized betting booms in Britain

LONDON -- Each day around noon, Jim Briden ducks out of his job at a government organization and spends his lunch hour betting. Some days, he'll place $170 on a horse race; others it's $90 on virtual dog races.

''Over a period of time, I lose," Briden, 41, admitted on a recent day while keeping one eye on the television in an airy betting shop in London's Holborn neighborhood. ''But when you do have a win -- what a feeling!"

Like many sports-lovers in Britain, he can't resist the urge to wager. Interest in gambling is soaring here, a trend that is expected to increase as portions of a gambling law that passed last year take effect by the end of 2007.

By formally legalizing and regulating Internet gambling, licensing more casinos, and adding more slot machines to existing casinos, the government is hoping to benefit from added revenues while regulating the growing industry.

Critics of the law predict it will create a new wave of problem gamblers and accompanying social problems. Still, towns across the country are competing to win the rights to build a Las Vegas style super-casino, and gambling companies from Britain and abroad are rushing to cash in.

''Over the next few years, Britain will become the Internet gaming capital of the world as well as the betting capital of the world," said Leighton Vaughan Williams, head of the betting research unit at Nottingham Trent University.

Gambling shops have also evolved. The one in Holborn that Briden frequents features a café in front where people munch on biscotti and read newspapers, wall-to-wall televisions showing sports events from around Europe, and roulette and poker machines. It's quite a change from two decades ago, where most betting shops were smoky places of ill repute, with blacked-out windows to prevent children from seeing inside.

Few anticipated the scope of the gambling boom five years ago when betting became tax-free in Britain. Since then, gambling has increased sevenfold, with $90 billion spent on gambling last year alone, Vaughan Williams said.

In a country with so many sports fanatics, betting has always been popular. It's possible to walk into a bookie and wager money on just about anything, from the fate of the US presidential election to the color of the socks of the next person to walk in the door. But in the past decade, gambling has become more socially acceptable, thanks in part to the Internet, growing sports coverage on television, and the popularity of the National Lottery -- introduced in 1994.

''It's become more of a leisure experience," said Vaughan Williams, who added that the growth from gambling will benefit Britain's economy.

When the new law takes full effect, gambling will become even easier. The law allows people to walk directly into casinos to place bets, eradicating the 24-hour waiting period now required. It allows 17 new casinos to be built around the country, opens up the possibility for more to follow, and lifts a ban on casino advertising. It also permits race-course betting on Christmas and Good Friday.

Online gambling already has drawn investors and companies to Britain's shores, especially during the past few months as the US Congress debates whether to outlaw online gambling and Italy and other governments in Europe threaten to do the same. US giants like MGM Mirage and Caesar's Entertainments have announced that they would spend billions building casinos in Britain.

British companies like Ladbrokes, the biggest betting operator in the country, are racing to keep up with the demand. Its shops feature an exclusive television channel showing sporting events around the country, virtual dog racing, and roulette and poker machines.

Ladbrokes' clientele has diversified over the past few years, with more young people and women becoming involved, said Ciaran O'Brien, a spokesman for the company. ''Culturally, people just love a flutter," he said, describing the excitement after you win a bet. A government survey in 2001 showed that 90 percent of adults had participated in some sort of gambling in the past year.

But the increasingly easy access to gambling worries some.

The Salvation Army and the Methodist Church have warned about an increase in gambling addicts who go into debt to feed their habit. They have teamed up to lobby against the new casinos, and in Birmingham were joined by members of the Muslim community.

The religious groups cite the example of Australia, which has seen a sharp increase in gambling addicts since it liberalized gambling laws in 2001.

''We don't want to give the impression that we're opposed to people having fun," said Toby Scott, spokesman for the Methodist Church of Great Britain. ''As long as they recognize that they will lose money, because that's the way it is set up."

Not everyone in Britain is so sure that betting always leads to losing.

Souliman Jebril, 26, who arrived from France 16 months ago, is drawn to London's betting shops. While he waits for a friend to arrange a job for him, Jebril wanders between casinos and betting shops, wagering everything in his pockets.

So far, he's lost more than he's won, but still he is optimistic.

''In France, there's nothing like this," he said, gesturing to a vast betting shop. ''I just lost everything. But I'll be back."