Is online horse race betting legal in UK?

Question

I am an ardent horse race bettor, I would like to know, is online horse race betting legal in UK. As I am currently residing in UK and plan to place an online bet on horse races.

Answer 1

In common with other sports, the First and Second World Wars were followed by surges in popularity for racing, as people turned to their entertainments after the privations of wartime. But by the 1950s race-going crowds were in decline, down from an average of 11,964 per meeting in 1953 to 9,168 in 1961 (figures quoted in Sport in Britain, a Social History ed Tony Mason P121). In many ways horse racing was saved from terminal decline by the activity that had always surrounded it, gambling. From 1929 racing had taken a portion of the revenue generated by betting at a race meeting, known as the tote. Until 1960 gambling by law could only take place at race meetings, or via postal bookies, who were well known for being unreliable. This meant that punters who couldn't attend meetings were likely to go to an illegal street bookie, who, as Wray Vamplew points out, were much more likely to honour bets than the postal bookies- (see Vamplew's article in Sport in Britain, a Social History). With most punters using illegal bookies, a vast part of the gambling industry was black market, unregulated and untaxed, and of no benefit to the sport on which it depended. By 1960 the illegal street betting industry was so huge that government gave in to the inevitable and legalised high street betting shops. Now punters could watch a race on television in their home towns and bet on the races they watched. By 1968 there were 15,000 betting shops. With former black market revenue now controlled through betting shops, a portion of it could be directed back into the sport. Between 1961 and 1985 the Horse Racing Betting Levy Board put £195 million back into racing.