In what is perhaps an indicator of growing confidence in the online gambling industry following the mass losses occasioned by the UIGEA last year, one of the UK's biggest insurance groups has made a large share buy in Sportingbet this week.

The fund management unit of insurer Prudential, M&G Investments, bought 2.5 million shares in the UK gambling group, raising its stake from 3.61 percent to 4.19 percent.