- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday September 20 2000 03.52 BST
The battle-hardened betting shop punter is in the process of becoming a dying breed following the internet explosion and advent of digital television which are changing the way people bet.
Anyone doubting that the betting shop will eventually become a boarded-up symbol of a bygone age only needs to digest some of the projected figures researched by Lee Richardson, the managing director of Totalbet.com which the Tote operates in partnership with PA Sporting Life.
The Tote has recently added pool betting to the fixed odds service already on offer and Richardson forecasts that current internet betting figures will be a mere drop in the ocean compared to the future.
"Worldwide online betting turnover by 2002 will be over $10bn and the estimated European market is £3bn," said Richardson.
"To capture a share of that the Tote is setting up an international site based in Malta by early next year. We believe pari-mutuel (tote) is the major betting format for the international market."
"Over 47 million households are expected to have Internet access by the year 2003. Already 30% United Kingdom households have it. In April of this year more than one million Internet users came online."
The Internet betting customer at the moment is different from the traditional punter who comes from the C, D and E earnings category and is usually aged between 45 and 65. The online customer is much younger and more affluent.
Online betting accounts, however, will not just be available on the Internet, but through digital television and mobile phones, and it is here that another explosion is expected.
Interactive betting on television through dedicated racing channels will be very big business and with the mobile phone already penetrating more than 50% of the United Kingdom population there is huge growth potential here.
With mobiles expected to be able to show racing webcasts linked to internet and digital accounts, the extent of future betting markets are of mind-blowing proportions.
No doubt, however, some habituees, loving the atmosphere and company of fellow sufferers, will still prefer to write out their slips.
