Online sports betting is fast becoming among the biggest industries online and it’s not difficult to see why. Betting online is quick, easy and offers a whole lot more markets than traditional high street betting shops. Long ago in 1996, when the internet was just an infant, there was only 30 or so sites that allowed users to place bets on anything from blackjack to soccer. Even in its infancy then the gambling industry was raking in a tremendous $17million from online soccer bet revenue. Through the turn of the Millennium this had risen exponentially to over $3billion through 2003 this had doubled to more than $6billion in only the us.

Whenever you look at the total annual turnover of worldwide online betting it is an absolutely astonishing amount of money. As outlined by the gambling board of Great Britain the worldwide turnover in 2001 for all gambling was Ł638billion with Ł21billion of this being wagered online. Online sports betting got a Ł9billion slice of this.

With huge quantities of money to be made, it’s no surprise that all of the major bookers quickly flocked to the web to get in on the action. As well as the well known brands, specialist sites began to spring up everywhere. These sites had no real life presence and were designed purely to capture the growing number of punters looking to place there bets with a click of a mouse. Today there is in excess of 50,000 sites all looking take your bets. It’s hardly surprising there are so many sites as the online Gambling Research and Markets Group predicts that by 2015, the turnover within the online betting world will reach at least $125billion.

As a result, with the numbers rising ever higher it’s clear betting online becomes more and more popular everyday. For nearly all people, placing bets online makes their sport more exciting and they may even earn the odd bit of cash with the proper technique. But it appears if you want to make the big bucks, you are going to have to be a bookmaker.