The date has been set – 22nd March 2006 – for the launch of a new UK daily national aimed at gamblers. The Sportsman, to be edited by Charlie Methven (a former Telegraph, Evening Standard and Sporting Life journalist) hopes to capitalise on the rising interest in gambling currently worth £60Bn annually.
The Sportsman, the first daily to be launched in the UK for twenty years, will have to compete with established paper The Racing Post. However, Methven plans to concentrate primarily on sports betting (which accounts for 60% on non-racing gambling in the UK) with football (soccer) making the front pages.