Online Casinos attract the 9-5 gamblers, making poker a career

 The abolition of betting tax for punters in the United Kingdom in 2001 and the growth of online casinos have revolutionized the industry and opened the door to a new breed of gambler, who is choosing gambling at online casinos it as a career. Matthew Benham, managing director of one of the top online casinos, had placed just a handful of bets in his life before he became a professional gambler last year. He was a City trader for eight years before setting up his company, which bets exclusively on football. The 36-year-old employs 13 full-time staff, mainly made up of mathematicians and statisticians. He also has 25 part-time employees around the world who collate data on their country's league. Once the analysis is done, he and just one other colleague decide what bets to place at online casinos and sports books. "After leaving my job I was looking for something new," he says. "I have always been into football and I noticed betting on games was really taking off. A lot of what I did in the City feeds into what I do now. I use the spreadsheets and financial models I did as a trader to assess odds. "Five years ago professional gambling was hard work, but times have changed. With the internet it is much easier, from getting all the data to analyze a bet to placing it.”

 "I know more and more people who are taking it up full time and it is becoming a legitimate career choice. Some people are still suspicious of what I do and expect me to carry round suitcases full of cash." Benham says it is his unemotional attitude towards gambling at online casinos that makes him successful - he makes a profit, although declines to say how much.

 There are no figures for how many people gamble professionally, but the money staked in all gambling style activities rose to £63.8bn in 2002-03, according to the government. Online casinos have spurned this growth. Politics graduate Paul Motty, 32, worked in the betting industry after school but left in 1997 to go to university because there were few prospects. But after the explosion of online casinos he became a full-time gambler. He knows more and more people who are gambling at online casinos professionally and they are mainly young. Is there a gambling revolution underway in Britain?