Sports betting has been a popular activity for thousands of years. As far as the UK goes, sports betting has been around the entirety of recorded history, although the current state of sports betting is a result of the traditional bookmakers who were always located at the racecourse for horse races and dog races. With the advent of improved television coverage and the modernization of many of the laws regulating sports betting, things have expanded to the point where bets are allowed to be placed in shops and casinos throughout the country. Bookies still mark up the odds on physical boards at the actual racecourse, as well as using tic-tac and mobile telephones to communicate between staff and other bookies, but for the most part the modernization of UK bookmarking laws regarding online and high street gambling have moved sports betting away from physically requiring books and onto the internet creating a new online gambling world.
In 1961 the government legalized betting shops and some fairly stringent measures were put in place to make sure that bookmakers remained honest and refrained from setting matches. Ever since this regulation was put in place the respectability of sports betting has continued to expand until it exists as it does today: an honest business that contributes to the economy. The big four bookmakers these days are William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral, and ToteSport, which is a state-owned bookmaker. There are also a variety of sports betting companies just underneath these which are rapidly catching up in the 21st century.