Investigation and Report about the sports betting industry related to Essay

Investigation and Report about the sports betting industry related to key issues - Essay Example Moving Overseas 19 7. Conclusion 20 References 21 1. Introduction Sports betting industry in the United Kingdom has gained considerable significance in the economic structure of the country for the past few decades. It is due to the growing participation of the industry in the total earnings of the economy, that the industry is being termed as one of the potential industries of the current and future era. For instance, the total revenue earned from sports betting industry in the year 2007 was valued at ?2.5 billion with more than 10% of the total UK adults participating in the bets regularly (William Hill, 2011). However, the sports betting industry in the UK is currently witnessing a fall in the total revenue earned due to which many betting organisations, such as William Hill, are tending to expand their business in the US and other countries (Davidson, 2011). The discussion of the report will be based on the trends of the UK sports betting industry for the past few years. In this regard the report will focus on describing the expansion and growth trends of the industry considering its performances for the past four years, i.e. 2007 to 2011. The report will further attempt to identify the various factors to influence the potential customers in participating in sports betting. Analysis of these issues is likely to assist in identifying the future prospects of the industry. Furthermore, the report shall intend to analyse the advantages of moving overseas in terms of tax incentives and lower costs. 2. Research Methodology The research method implemented in this paper is based on the qualitative research method. The reason to select qualitative research approach is due to the time consuming and complex nature of quantitative researches. The data in this paper has been gathered from the secondary sources available online. Due consideration has been provided to the aspect of reliability of the data obtained. In this regard, only news, organisational and governmenta l websites have been considered. Although, the findings of the research focuses on the statistical data to reveal facts regarding the Sports Betting Industry of the UK, the discussion of the paper has been based on the descriptive analysis of the findings adhering to the characteristics of qualitative research. 3. The Expansion and Growth of the UK Betting Industry 3.1. Current Structure of the Industry The market value of sports betting industry in the UK is recorded to be almost ?400 million in the financial year of 2010-2011 (UK National Statistics, 2011). It is worth mentioning that the sports betting industry in UK includes itself as a major facet of the gambling industry. It can be well-recognised from the graphical representation of the current data below. [GGY is the abbreviation of Gross Gambling Yield] Source: (Gambling Commission, 2010). Two types of betting operators can be identified in the industry, namely the on-course betting operators and the off-course betting oper ators. The betting industry is regulated by the Gambling Act 2005 (William Hill, 2011). Currently, there are 590 individuals who are provided with the license of on-course betting operators and 681 individuals as off-course betting operators. The industry is subjugated by five top operators, i.e. Ladbrokes, William Hill, Gala Coral Group, Betfred and Tote that contribute over 80% of the total betting shops (Gambling Commission, 2010). The statistical data