Internet Ban Makes Phone Betting Appealing
Published: Friday, August 12, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
INTERNET BAN MAKES PHONE BETTING APPEALING
Czech are betting millions
The Prague Post carried an interesting story this week that claimed buoyant gambling business among the Czechs, with telephone wagering on the rise as a result on Internet betting bans.
Quoting Martin Hájek of online service provider esazeni.cz the article revealed that, "'The Czechs like betting, and the online form allows them to place bets virtually any time from anywhere. However, the government has outlawed betting via the Internet because it is a non-transparent business where money flows are hard to track. Phone betting is quickly taking its place."
The report also quotes a recent report by Hospodárské Noviny that the volume of phone bets is tens of millions of crowns a year and the market is growing quickly. And according to Milan Jelinek of Erika, the industry is attractive because providers don't need to build up a network of terminals as regular odds-betting and lottery providers do.
Prague Post concludes by reporting that over the past few years, the gambling industry has been growing. Last year Czechs spent a record 84.6 billion Kc on legal betting — 8.5 percent more than the year before, according to Finance Ministry statistics. The 2004 betting market included around 400 lottery and betting firms.
