More than 14 million Europeans fancy a flutter online

According to internet research company Nielsen//NetRatings, more than 14 million Europeans, or 14% of those online from home, visited a gambling and sweepstakes site in February.

Gambling sites were most popular with French and Swedish surfers, but have yet to make a mark in southern Europe, with less than 10% of Spanish and Italians logging on to gamble.

In the UK, the online gambling audience has increased by 45 per cent over this time last year, with 3.2m visiting a gambling site in February.

Gabrielle Prior, European Internet Analyst, believes that the increasing availability of broadband encourages more people to try out a quick flutter online.

“As the broadband boom continues, we expect more people to try online gambling,” she said.