Now in addition to pages on such topics as love, Christmas and Xbox, MSN.co.uk is offering a channel specific to gambling.
The gambling channel, which was announced by the MSN U.K. subsidiary last week, will feature fixed odds, lotteries, casinos and pools from the biggest names in British bookmaking.
Amanda Anthony, a business marketing manager with MSN, said the new channel will benefit the portal as both a traffic and revenue generator. The MSN.co.uk homepage receives 13 million visitors per month.
"This new initiative is a huge opportunity for MSN and our partners," she said. "Gambling is the biggest growth area on the Internet and we believe its true potential as a traffic and revenue driver has yet to be fully realized."
The gambling channel offers services like comparable fixed odds from Bet Genius and explanatory pages for the beginning gambler. The mini-site is divided into four sections that direct gamblers to different types of online gambling. The pools and lottery sections deposit users at two sites, TotoPools.com and thedailydraw.com, respectively. The casino page consists of a set of links to several online casinos including Sun International's Atlantis, Harrods Casino Online, Aspinalls.com and Victor Chandler's The
Spin Room.
The fixed odds section is informational, offering odds on everything from football to horse racing and politics.
On a welcome page accessible through a "new to gambling link," MSN states in bold print that the channel is strictly for people 18 years or older and that anyone from a country where online gambling is illegal, including the United States, should not enter the partner sites.
MSN will be adding new content, including person-to-person betting and games of chance as well as new partner sites, to the channel during the upcoming months.