The UK government began an investigation in mid 2010 into the online betting accounts of its residents and the results were recently delivered to John Penrose, Minister for Tourism and Heritage which is part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

The report acknowledged there could be millions of pounds dormant in online gambling accounts. The government wants to collect the funds from abandoned online gambling accounts and use the revenue to benefit social causes such as the improvement of public sports facilities and other sporting initiatives.

During the course of the investigation, online gambling players in the UK disclosed that some online gambling operators make it difficult for players to withdraw funds from their online accounts. As a result of the investigation, the industry in the UK may be forced to make operators change their procedures to make it easier for customers to withdraw from their online betting accounts in the future.

Many countries face the same dilemma when it comes to regulating safe websites. In the meantime, the government proposes recovering these ‘lost’ funds to reinforce social programs that will benefit all residents in the UK.

In response to critics who oppose the proposal, the government assures UK residents will be able to reclaim funds from these online betting accounts at any time upon proving ownership to the money. There is even the possibility that the money could be used to foster some programs that could help people with gambling problems since that is one of the issues facing the popular internet activity.

Betfair, the international online sports betting exchange, plans to relocate its base in the UK and transfer its license to Gibraltar. The move will allow the company to avoid paying 15% tax on its betting profits in the UK saving an estimated £18.5m in annual taxes. Although not officially disclosing the amount of tax it will save, unofficial projections suggest profits should increase by £10m in 2012 and £20m the next year with the company receiving the benefit of Gibraltar’s low 1% tax on its total betting profits.

The company admitted tax advantages played a major part in their decision to move but an opportunity to strengthen the company’s technology base was also cited as a contributing factor.

Betfair joins the ranks of other prominent online gambling and sports betting exchanges such as Ladbrokes and William Hill who have relocated some of their online gambling operations offshore to Gibraltar in response to the steep gambling levy imposed by the Government.

Notwithstanding its decision to relocate, the company announced it has no plans to transfer its estimated 1,200 employees, most of whom are based in the UK, to Gibraltar. In addition, Betfair has confirmed its continued support of British horse racing by paying racing levies legally required by companies operating a gambling license issued in the UK.

According to the Independent Study for Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), approximately one million people in Britain regularly gamble online. This statistic represents almost one third of the entire European population and of this estimate, women represent a growing percentage of the gambling population estimating up to 30% of hits to UK gambling sites during the World Cup matches alone.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell seems to be picking up on this trend. She recently entered the fray by calling the UK the hallmark for standards for online gambling and saying that she hoped more companies considered the move to that nation to set up shop. Although she did concede there would be some benefits to the governments regulating online gambling games, Jowell insisted the fundamental driver behind the new government push was protection of the public from unscrupulous behavior from offshore online gambling casinos.

Under the proposed government regulations, online gambling websites would not be allowed to target children with their advertising and customers would need to be informed on a constant basis about how much money they had spent on any of the games including online poker and online slots.

Other government ministers have conceded that the project is both ambitious and complicated but the government has presented a united front that regulating online gambling in this way will be well worth it and in the best interest of the public in the end.

So now you can really put your five cents in! Or perhaps you can get five cents or more just for your opinion. There’s a new player on the online gambling front in the UK and that site is called Tipstar.co.uk. Appropriately named, this site lets players seller their advice for making sports bets! And its just that simple, you can buy and sell advice on the predictions that you make about any given upcoming sporting event that other players can possibly make a wager on!

This great idea will likely have a lot of need and demand. Many people are always looking for an opinion of another and some kind of advice on if they are making the right bet with regards to a sports outcome. This is a place where sports advocates can buy and sell useful information about sporting events.
 
Essentially it is a market place similar to that of any other auction site where instead of selling a good or a service you are actually selling your opinion. So what is at stake and why cant you post some bogus advice or better yet buy some advice that is good for nothing, well its your reputation, and you aren’t doing this simply out of good will, you are doing this to make a profit, so the better you are at predicting these outcomes the larger following you will have which will surely lead to larger amounts of people buying your advice which in turn will mean that you are making more money!
 
For more information on this great new website that is sure to get a lot of hype in the next little while be sure to check out tipstar.co.uk. This site is available to all players and will be interesting to see what other products they will come up with in the near future!

Online casino players in the UK are looking for a more interactive way to play.  The common opinion is that online gambling should take on a more social network feel.  This goes beyond the average chat room; players now want the ability to develop an online gambling community in which they can share scores, new gaming strategies and techniques.

Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have had recent success for many reasons.  They allow people to connect and part of the way they do this is by forming like-minded groups.  Anyone interested in online gambling would find multiple groups focused on that subject.  In these groups are people who have the same interests and can give feedback on any questions or offer support to other players. 

Online casinos have been offering chat rooms for all of their existence but players are expressing the desire for a more sophisticated way to communicate.  Casino operators are taking notice and those with a large client-base are already looking into providing this service.  The online gambling industry runs on customer service so if enough players express a desire for something, operators have to deliver.

Eventually, social networking will be integrated into the online gambling industry and players will have access to any information that other players are willing to share.

There is a stronger brand presence for online casinos on TV in Europe and the UK than ever before. It seems that the companies that run their online businesses are finding that TV air time is a great way to source new customers and so they are creating ads and running them quite frequently.

And we must say that the ads aren’t coming from the same online casino time and time again. They are actually coming from a wide range of online casino companies and it is quite interesting to see what some of these marketing departments are coming up with.

Online casino William Hill was surely one of the first and the most recognizable online casino to air their spots. But now the competition is heating up as there are quite a few that have a message of their own. The online casino industry has picked up on certain time slots that those watching coincide with those that would be likely to play at an online gambling website and have bought those slots to air their commercials.

And many online casinos are saying that the response is amazing and can be directly linked with the time that the commercial airs on TV as the same time as players are logging on to create their very own personal accounts with the online casinos in question. Now as a TV watcher and online casino advocate all you have to do is watch and enjoy as the competition of online casino joins yet a new level which will be entertaining to observe to say the least.

The online sports betting site, PaddyPower.com has started a special betting market on the continuing troubles faced by English Premiership soccer club Newcastle United.

The Dublin-based site is currently offering its ‘Next Friend Of Dennis Wise To Be Employed By The Club’ special, with Uruguayan Gustavo ‘Gus’ Poyet, current Assistant Manager for Tottenham Hotspur, favorite at odds of 5/4.

The 41-year-old Wise is a former player for Chelsea, Wimbledon and Leicester City, and is currently the Executive Director of Football for Newcastle. Many fans blame him along with Chairman Mike Ashley for the resignation last month of popular boss Kevin Keegan followed by the appointment of past Wimbledon boss Joe Kinnear as Manager on an interim basis. However, uncertainty abounds about the future of the club as Ashley publicly searches for a new owner after buying the team only last year.

The forty-year-old Poyet played with Wise at Chelsea before helping him to manage lower league sides Swindon Town and Leeds United. Many in the game see him as a potential future manager although he has publicly denied any interest in the Newcastle job.

Ex-Chelsea player Gianluca Vialli is second at odds of 11/4 even though the Italian has been out of football since being sacked as boss of Watford in 2002. Third in the running is former Wimbledon Manager Dave Bassett at odds of 9/2 alongside Lawrie Sanchez, a past team mate of Wise’s and ex-chief of Fulham and Wycombe Wanderers.

Wimbledon great Robbie Earle is listed at odds of 10/1 alongside Chelsea legend Marcel Desailly while ex-team mates Frank Leboeuf, Roberto Di Matteo, Vinny Jones and John Fashanu are at 33/1.

Bookies are already taking bets just two games into the English Premier League season that Alan Curbishley, manager of West Ham United, will be the first manager to get fired. Online bookmakers BlueSq.com have named the West Ham manager as its 2/1 favorite to get the boot.

VictorChandler.com has shortened its odds recently from 7/4 to 6/4 on Curbishley being fired. Fans of the London-based club booed Curbishley on Wednesday after his team needed extra time to beat League strugglers Macclesfield Town in the Carling Cup competition at home. Also not helping his cause was the sale of defender Anton Ferdinand to Sunderland this week and constant rumors that striker Craig Bellamy is off to Manchester City.

The number two spot of managers who will lose their jobs is the new Manchester City manager Mark Hughes, who is 11/2 with VictorChandler.com and 8/1 with 888Sport.com. Hughes was recently hired as manager of Manchester City this summer from Blackburn Rovers but is now among the pick of managers that will quit their jobs as the club is beset by financial problems and uncertainty over the future of owner Thaksin Shinawatra.

The next manager on the list to leave his job is Everton manager David Moyes who would rather quit than be fired as his club is struggling to afford players to strengthen his team that finished fifth place last season. Moyes has odds of 7/1 with Ladbrokes.com while 888Sport has him at 10/1. The biggest surprise in the race to be fired is the Liverpool manager Raphael Benitez, who is 9/1 with 888Sport.com, 10/1 with VictorChandler.com and 11/1 with BlueSq.com.

With the English Premier (EPL) League about to start on Saturday, VC Bet (Victor Chandler) has started betting on which one of the Big Four teams will have the worst disciplinary record. VC Bet’s spokesperson Neal Wilkins said, “For the last three seasons the disciplinary record of Chelsea has been by far the worst. In fact in the last EPL Campaign they were the worst offenders with six red cards.”

He added, “The Chelsea team record may improve this year with a new manager and a new set of rules. We suspect that the race for the worst record will be much closer this season.”

Arsenal ended their last campaign with 3 players being sent off and 54 yellow cards with Manchester United close behind with 2 players being sent off the pitch and 51 yellow cards. The fourth team, Liverpool, has maintained a good record in the last two seasons with just one player being sent off.

VC Bet spokesperson went on to say, “The question now to be asked is whether Chelsea can keep their record sheets better and keep out of trouble. The team has started to get a bad reputation.”

Manchester United is priced at 5:2 but they have to overcome a tricky fortnight in the middle of September when they have to travel to both Anfield and Stamford Bridge. Liverpool is priced at 13:2 and traditionally finds it difficult to avoid defeat at the start of the season