A new Yougov-BrandIndex study conducted by the research company YouGov reveals that online UK based bookmakers are perceived to be better by the public than its land based rivals. Some bookmakers are also perceived more poorly than others, which is obviously a problem in public perception.
Ten brands were surveyed and the ones with the worst scores were those with both online and land based presence. On the other hand, bookmakers with online only presence got the best scores. In particular, Ladbrokes got the worst result scoring minus 19.1, followed by Paddy Power and William Hill with minus 17.7 and minus 17.3 respectively. Betfred and the merger partner of Ladbrokes, Coral, scored minus 17.2 and minus 15 respectively.
From all of the online only brands surveyed, 888 Holdings fared the worst with its minus 13.2 score. The brand was followed by Bet365 and Betfair that got minus 12.6 and 12.3 scores respectively as well as by SkyBet with minus 7.7 score and BetVictor with minus 3.7 score.
The chief executive of YouGov, Stephan Shakespeare, says that the research reveals that over 60 percent of the respondents believe that the government in the UK should tighten up the regulation of gambling companies, while only 4 percent believe that the industry should decrease its supervision. However, about 25 percent think that the balance is right even though public perceptions point out that only banking and energy departments need tighter regulation.
Furthermore, 58 percent of those who favor tighter rules want the Fixed Odds Betting Terminals banned and 80 percent of those who want more regulation think that there should be fewer betting shops on the streets.