Survey Shows Irish Betting Preferences

Northern Ireland's largest bookmaker, McLean's has commissioned a client study with Ipsos MORI, which revealed that most Irish punters prefer to go to a betting shop rather than bet online because they prefer cash payouts.

The company's study was based on 700 respondents, which was filtered by age, gender, region, and social class.

The study revealed that:

• Bookmakers are still the number one choice for punters placing bets in Northern Ireland.

• Betting has surged during the €2012 football championship, with SP shops four times more popular than online gambling because clients prefer to be paid in cash.

• There are around 330 officially recognised bookmaking offices in Northern Ireland. But nearly two-thirds of the entire industry is independently owned.

• Gambling on horse racing and soccer results are the big attraction.

• The gambling sector as a whole is struggling due to the economic downturn and the restrictive nature of Northern Ireland gambling laws, exacerbated by an upsurge in remote gambling, according to a DSD consultation.

• In Northern Ireland, punters prefer local bookmakers, compared to multinationals with offices in Northern Ireland.

Commenting on the results, McLean's Managing Director Paul McLean said: "Despite a perception of the growth of online betting the majority of punters still prefer to have a flutter in betting offices as many people like to bet and get paid in cash. It is a statistic which indicates there remains a strong rationale for the presence of the betting shop in the high street."