Football is one of England’s most popular sports. The English are some of the most passionate fans of their clubs in the world, and the English national team is one of the most accomplished national football teams. England is also home to some of the biggest football clubs, including what may be the biggest club, Manchester United. Other clubs which dominate the English Premier League include Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, etc.
Football betting is one of the most popular activities among fans of the sport, and the United Kingdom is the leading country in terms of online betting popularity. In recent years, the popularity of online betting has made massive strides in popularity, and more and more countries the world over are becoming much more lenient when it comes to the legality of it all. For example, African and Middle Eastern nations have begun to embrace the betting industry a lot more in the past couple of decades. However, European countries are by far the biggest supporters of the betting industry, and among them, the United Kingdom dominates the list of countries with the most online bettors.
English football fans love to wager on matches, local, national, and international, and most are aware of the best football betting sites that are available in the country. However, the question on the minds of most punters is “what does the future hold for football betting?” In this article, we aim to answer that very question.
The History of Football and Betting in the UK
While the origins of football can be dated back to kickball games played in Ancient Greece, the game as we understand it today is a uniquely English invention. Evidence of the game being played go much further back, however, the first official rules put to paper were the Oxford rules, drafted in Oxford University. Since then, many of these first rules have changed or become obsolete, but despite that, this is considered the origin point for the game of football as we understand it today.
While football’s history is over a hundred years old, the rich history of sports betting in England dates much further back. Evidence of wagers can be found dating all the way back to the 1600s, however, many people believe that the British have been gambling much further back than that. In the 1700s, the residents of the United Kingdom were introduced to betting on horse racing competitions, and the sport soon became the most popular betting sport in the world.
In the 20th century, however, horse-racing was quickly supplemented as the most popular betting sport by football, which remains the most popular betting sport worldwide to this day.
But how is the rapidly developing technology of the 21st century going to impact football betting in the future?
Augmented Reality is Changing the Game
The development of technology has led to the creation of Augmented and Virtual reality, often abbreviated to AR and VR respectively. As these are rather new phenomenon, many people still don’t quite understand what AR and VR is, and the differences between them.
The two phenomenon, in many ways, are quite similar, yet in some ways, opposite of each other. To put it simply, Augmented Reality refers to overlaying digital information on the real world. Virtual reality, however, is the process by which a person is immersed within a digital world. So how can Augmented Reality impact the world of sports betting?
AR is sports betting newest and most exciting change. One of the ways that AR can change the betting world is by making information on statistics, players, teams, clubs, etc. a lot easier to punters. For example, imagine being able to simply look at or point to a player and get all of the necessary digital information simply appear in front of you.
Conclusion
To conclude, the United Kingdom is one of the biggest supporters of online sports betting, and has had a rich and storied history with the activity. It stands to reason, then, that residents of the UK are some of the most passionate fans of sports, and also the most excited for the changes that rapid technological advancements offer to the world of betting.
