Editing Bookmaker (section)

=== United Kingdom ===
{{Main|Gambling in the United Kingdom}}
In 1961, [[Harold Macmillan]]'s Conservative government legalised betting shops, with tough measures enacted to ensure that bookmakers remained honest. A large industry has grown since. At one time, there were over 15,000 betting shops. Now, through consolidation, they have been reduced to between 9,100 and 9,200 in 2013.<ref>Gambling Commission Gambling industry statistics April 2009 to September 2012</ref> This number has reduced further to 6,219 as of March 2022,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-22 |title=Betting shop statistics - Bookmakers Near Me |url=https://www.bookmakersnearme.co.uk/betting-shop-statistics/ |access-date=2023-09-22 |language=en-GB}}</ref> largely as a result of Covid-19 and the forced closure of shops on the UK high street. The group of the largest bookmakers in the country, known as the "Big Three", comprises [[William Hill plc|William Hill]], [[Ladbrokes]], and [[Gala Coral Group|Coral]].<ref>Vamplew and Kay, [https://books.google.com/books?id=QMFDJfYT2UEC&pg=PA51 p. 51.]</ref>

The United Kingdom's [[Gambling Act 2005]] introduced a new regulatory system for governing gambling in Great Britain. This system includes new provisions for regulating the advertising of gambling products. These provisions of the Act came into effect in September 2007. It is an offence to advertise in the UK, gambling that physically takes place in a non-[[European Economic Area]] (EEA) or, in the case of gambling by remote means, gambling that is not regulated by the gambling laws of an EEA state. The Gambling Commission is the body that makes sure all sites and operators follow the new restrictions. In addition to the Gambling Act of 2005, according to the new gambling bill, online gambling sites are only allowed to offer services within the United Kingdom, if they are registered at the UK Gambling Commission.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 |url=https://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news-action-and-statistics/News/the-gambling-licensing-and-advertising-act-2014-transitional-arrangements-for-eea-and-whitelist-operators-published |access-date=4 September 2019 |website=UK Gambling Commission}}</ref>

Improved TV coverage and the modernisation of the law have allowed betting in shops and casinos in most countries. In the UK, on-track bookies still mark up the odds on boards beside the racecourse and use [[Tic-tac (horse racing)|tic-tac]] or mobile telephones to communicate the odds between their staff and to other bookies, but, with the modernisation of United Kingdom bookmaking laws, online and high street gambling are at an all-time high. A so-called super-casino had been planned for construction in [[Manchester]], but the government announced that this plan had been scrapped on 26 February 2008.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/nostalgia/doomed-manchester-gambling-palace-super-25702272|title=Doomed Manchester 'gambling palace' super casino would have rivalled those in Las Vegas|first=Lee|last=Grimsditch|work=[[Manchester Evening News]]|date=9 December 2022|accessdate=10 August 2023}}</ref>