News

Tuesday 30 May 2006

Britain set for billion pound World Cup betting blitz

UK betting companies alone will take a billion pounds at this year’s World Cup according to a top economics expert. The increase – more than triple the amount bet on the last World Cup four years ago – is being predicted by Professor Leighton Vaughan Williams, Director of the Betting Research Unit at Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University.

The University’s Professor of Economics and Finance will present his findings during the opening week of the World Cup at the Annual International Symposium on Forecasting, in Santander, Spain.

Professor Leighton Vaughan Williams said: “We are expecting to witness a seismic increase in money staked on this year’s World Cup, as part of a sevenfold increase in betting in the UK since 2001. This is due to a number of factors, including most notably, the impact of the effective abolition of ‘tax’ on bets, the explosion in competition and choice in the betting sector and the rapid growth in the popularity of football betting.”

ENDS

For more information please contact:

Dave Rogers, Press Officer, on telephone +44 (0)115 848 8782 or via email dave.rogers@ntu.ac.uk.

Or Therese Easom, Press and Media Relations Manager, on telephone +44 (0)115 848 8774 or via email therese.easom@ntu.ac.uk.