Betfair, one of the world's leading online casino and sports book operators, has launched the first betting application designed especially for the new Apple iPad tablet.

The application, which is free for customers in the United Kingdom and Ireland via Apple's Applications Store, follows the release in May of Betfair's iPhone application.

"Once more, we are pushing the boundaries when it comes to adapting our products to the latest web and technology trends," Betfair spokesman Don Fotsch said.

Betfair's push into this area of the industry will no doubt continue to grow, as evidence by news last month that the British-based company has announced it will hire around 100 people with expertise in C++, SQL Server and Java.

A wide range of betting applications are already available for Apple's iPhone, and the trend is now moving to the iPad, the tablet computer first released in April 2010.

Most of the big online gambling companies offer gambling services on the iPhone that are no different to those available over the Internet on a regular computer.

For example, Ladbrokes mobile casino offers access to its games without download, including roulette, blackjack and theme games such as Tomb Raider, Royal Derby, Major Million and Mega Moolah.