It is the greatest day for punters since betting shops opened on May 1, 1961

John McCririck

Bookies around the country have welcomed the move, predicting it will bring a boom to the number of bets being placed in the UK.

In recent years, many UK bookmakers had moved their businesses offshore, to enable their customers to enjoy tax-free gambling by betting by phone or online.

'New dawn'

Channel 4's betting guru John McCririck has hailed the move by the Treasury as a "new dawn", and many experts predict turnover to spiral.

"It is the greatest day for punters since betting shops opened on 1 May, 1961," said McCririck.

"It is now a paradise for punters. The most competitive prices ever on the racecourse and now betting's tax free - what more could punters want?"

Bookmakers Hills, one of the businesses to move offshore, has announced it will move its operations back to the UK.

David Hood, Hills' public relations manager, said: "There is no doubt that punters are sitting up and paying attention to the opportunity before them.

A flurry of bets are expected for England's big match on Saturday

"Serious punters have been betting at zero deductions via the internet or telephone to off-shore bookmakers for some time and that business is now back in the UK with the repatriation of our international operations."

The tax change comes in time for England's vital World Cup qualifier against Greece on Saturday, which is expected to spark a flurry of betting activity.

'Biggest Grand National ever'

Bookmaker Ladbrokes estimates that annual turnover could rise by 30%, from its current level of �7.3bn.

The company is already predicting that next April's Grand National will be the biggest yet, breaking the �100m turnover barrier, compared with �70m last year.

Chief executive Chris Bell said: "It could benefit Britain's punters to the tune of �800m over the next year - that's equivalent to �300 for each of Britain's 2.7m regular betting customers."

Ladbrokes is spending �40m to build 40 new city-centre betting shops, employing 1,000 staff.

Betting duty was introduced just before England's World Cup victory in 1966.

Chancellor Gordon Brown announced the move to scrap it in his March budget to stop the boom in off-shore tax-free gambling, which costs the exchequer millions of pounds each year.

As the system stood, the government collected betting duty of 6.75% from bookmakers, which was passed on to punters through a 9% tax.