Online gambling, a political hot potato in the US and Australia (CI No 3,277, CI No 3,381), is enjoying its first flowerings on the UK web scene. Mirror Group Newspapers, City Index - the UK's largest financial betting firm, and the Press Association have joined together in a new venture called BETOnline (www.betonline.co.uk). The site is being launched this week, seemingly in an effort to benefit from some of the massive amount of trade which will doubtless result from this month's soccer World Cup in France. Information about the site on the Press Association's web site claims that BETOnline is the first live, online, gambling service for UK users. However, a cursory search of the web trawled up InterBet (www.interbet.co.uk) which offered a more turf-based 'interactive' service.

COPYRIGHT 1998 ComputerWire, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group