Internet wagering on the rise

500,000 Germans bet on sporting events online

Forsa research organization recently released a new report that shows how the online gaming industry has grown in Germany. According to the study, the numbers of Germans regularly gambling online has reached 2.2 million.

The German group's findings were released in its German Betting Market In Transition study, which reported that over 700,000 people access the lottery over the Internet while around 430,000 play online poker.

Conducted for ICT and Bitkom, the investigation also discovered that 500,000 Germans bet on sporting events online with 96 percent of these wagering on top-flight Bundesliga soccer matches. Forsa also found that one in six gamblers would also wager on the outcome of a large football event such as the Euro 2008 tournament taking place in nearby Austria and Switzerland this month.

The study also reportedly found that the German betting market would double over the next two years from taking in USD 3.4 annually to over USD 7.7 billion.