Angus Loughran, better known as Statto from television's Fantasy Football League, placed the first online bet at the media launch of the service at London's Sports Cafe on Monday. He gambled on Brazil to beat Scotland 1-0 in the opening game of the World Cup, at odds of 11/2.

BETonline is a part of the Sporting Life Website, which claims to be the third most popular sports site in the world, enjoying around 500,000 page views a day. The betting is being offered in partnership with City Index, a firm specialising in spread betting but offering fixed odds for the new service.

David Annat, managing director of the Press Association-Sporting Life joint venture, said: "This will be a dream come true for the 240,000 Internet users who regularly gamble, and with 10,000 British homes going online each week, we expect to attract a substantial portion of the betting market."

How it works

Anyone wanting to use BETonline, has to prove they are a UK resident and over 18 years of age. They make a deposit with a debit card and then fill in electronic betting slips with their selections.

They can study form and statistics on the Website and view a list of all previous bets. Their slips can be printed out and they can bet between £3 and £500. Bets on Wimbledon tennis and on golf may be offered in the next few weeks, though horse racing is not yet close to coming under starter's orders.

David Annat admits the system could fall prey to a betting coup - a number of punters gambing large amounts at the same time to secure attractive odds on a bet. But there are built-in circuit breakers, which are supposed to suspend betting or withdraw the price when any such irregular activity is detected.

The developers also feel they have enough security in the system to instil confidence in punters. Barclays Merchant Services is handling payments using secure online authentication and settlement transaction software.

World Cup winning bets

BETonline arrives 10 days after the announcement of Britain's first virtual betting shop. Mark Blandford launched Netbet, a service based in Alderney in the Channel Islands which will offer prices on events in Britain.

Angus Loughran says the introduction of Internet betting need not be bad news for bookmaker's shops: "There's always going to be a demand for High Street betting shops, I think it just increases their chances of getting to a wider audience. There are a lot of people who are housebound, and when you're abroad, keeping up to date is the hardest thing, I can have a bet now wherever I am, I don't have to find a betting shop."

As well as tipping Brazil to beat Scotland 1-0 on Wednesday, "Statto" fancies either Argentina to win the World Cup or Holland now there are no reports of dressing-room disputes: "If they keep away from problems off the field, I think 9/1 or 10/1 is a great price," he says.