In an interesting development in the UK--unfortunately for American card sharks--London-based mobile gambling service Betnow has scored a first round of funding from Balderton Capital and angel investors:

Betnow allows users to place bets on football, golf, horse racing, dog racing and tennis matches by sending SMS text messages to 89808. Betting instructions can be written out using English language; payment is handled via the mobile contract or via a bank account, winnings can be collected from a customer’s local Post Office branch.

Lest you think this is a niche market, consider this:

Mobile gambling was forecast to be worth $1.3 billion in 2007 and $26 billion by 2012, according to a Juniper Research white paper released in October, with the UK outlook looking particularly good thanks to recently relaxed regulations on advertising.

Read more at paidContent:UK.