What is the future of sports betting? Will we still be betting on horses, racing and football in the bookies or will the bookies no longer exist? The bookmakers have been an essential part of English culture for decades and it is hard to imagine it disappearing, however with the advent of online betting and everyone now owning portable devices with wireless access to high speed internet connections, it makes you wonder, if it will share a similar fate to Woolworths. For all we know, the Bookies might be heading to the dogs.

But high street bookies have been fighting back with free bet offers and a large selection of competitive bets for you to place your money on. Yet you hardly ever see many young people in the Bookies. Online betting may be a generational thing, for we are the first generation to be brought up with the internet and mobile phones. For our parents and especially their parents before them, they are often sceptical of computers and dis-trustworthy of sending their credit card information over the internet.

However gamblers will always want a place to congregate and discuss the horse that should have won or the goal of the season and internet forums lack the human touch of interaction we all require. For this reason alone perhaps the humble bookies will last, for the community aspect central to its existence. Who knows, sports betting could take another form, beyond the bookmakers and the internet altogether, that fuses the online element with the physical, communal aspect. Let us know what you think.