Summary:
According to the Gambling Commission, the UK’s gambling industry saw revenues of £6.44 billion in the 21st century, which is a 6.2% decrease compared to the previous period. The online sector saw revenues of over 6 billion dollars, which is a 12.4% increase over the previous year. The land-based sector had revenues of 3.5 billion between April and March.
The figures were supplied by the Gambling Commission.
The total is 0.8% below the previous year’s numbers, which were mostly caused by the pandemic. The number of bettors in the sector have fallen despite the increase in the headline numbers.
The Commission said that since Covid-19 restrictions were lifted in 2021, the percentage of the adult population who gambles is still lower than it was before.
Increasing gaming spend to a proportionally larger extent than the number of consumers is the reason for this. The Commission outlines that there are strong signs of increased participation in gambling activities from younger people.
There are signs of a return to gambling among younger age groups of males and females. The industry GGY for products under the Gambling Act 2005 is 2 percent below what it was before the recession.
The online sector is online
The online sector saw a 6.2% decrease in revenue compared to the previous period. In comparison to the previous year, this is still a rise.
The Commission said that the movement of consumers to online has been a gradual and consistent trend, but that spend appears to have increased more quickly than the increase in consumers.
The shift to online play is the most significant change in the gambling landscape. Technology and globalization have meant that gambling is no longer confined to opening hours and mostly local events, but instead a 24 hours 7 days a week opportunity and global event-driven marketplace.
The majority of the revenue comes from online casino. The majority of the total is made up of slots alone. Football and horse racing accounted for more than half of the online sector’s revenue at £768.6m and £1.1 billion, respectively.
For the year, revenue from online bingo was over 200 million dollars.
There is a land-based sector
The land-based sector has doubled in size since the end of the Pandemic restrictions. Between April 2021, and March 2022, the GGY increased by over a billion dollars.
The sector is still below its pre-pandemic strength, with revenues down by 21.5%. The pre-pandemic trend had a reduction in participation of 8%.
The recovery that was seen in land-based and retail venues was focused on younger people, according to the GC.
There were concerns from the industry that the Pandemic would have a significant negative impact on the retail landscape, but in person participation in gambling has increased in September 2022, particularly amongst males and younger adults up to the age of 24 years old.
There are premises and licences
The number of licensed operators fell 0.9% in the month of March to 2,419, the fourth year in a row that the decline has continued. The number of operators who do more than one activity fell by one.
In the same time period, the number of operators licensed for online casino, betting or bingo fell from 599 to 591. The number of businesses licensed to provide gambling software fell as well.
There were 8,308 active venues in Great Britain, a 3% decline from the previous year. The reduction in the number of betting shops is the reason for most of this fall. There were more betting shops that were inactive in the time period than there were in the previous year.