losses will exceed £10bn for 2008

British punters lose £9.5bn a year across all gambling- a 36% rise on £7bn lost in 1999, the year online gambling emerged. Excluding the lottery - the "softest" form of gambling - the annual loss from hard gambling widened by 56% in eight years to £7bn.

An adviser to both the culture department and to Revenue & Customs, Professor Vaughan Williams, said deregulation and online innovation will fuel the boom next year. He conservatively predicts the losses will exceed £10bn for 2008.

Posted in: Gambling