'It's all very well going online but I like the banter - that's part of it'

It is a filthy, wet day in Stevenage. Perhaps that has something to do with it but, in the three betting shops I find coming in quick succession, there is no denying that footfall is sparse.

"Tuesdays are dead," says Caroline Evans, manager at the Betfred on the high street. "I don't know what it is about Tuesday but yesterday was a different kettle of fish and quite manic. This is quite a busy shop which always has a flow of customers."

According to Evans, the shop enjoys a 60 per cent share of trade in its location in the pleasant, affluent older part of town – an urban 'new' town is 15 minutes away on foot – but that hardly bodes well for its competitors with only three customers populating the clean and comfortable shop with the action from Fairyhouse, Fakenham, Hereford and Lingfield under way.