Bi-annual UK gaming stats released

The UK Gambling Commission has published its latest twice-yearly set of gambling industry statistics, providing the latest information on each industry sector – arcades, betting, bingo, casinos, gaming machine manufacturers, lotteries and remote gambling.

The numbers show that land-based betting far outpaces its remote gambling cousin in the United Kingdom; between April 2012 and end March 2013 total GGY was up on the similar preceding period GBP 44 million at GBP 6.3 billion, 51 percent of which took place on the retail betting venues.

The next largest contributor was land casino gambling, which accounted for 15 percent of the total, or GBP 961 million.

By comparison, remote (online and mobile) gambling delivered 13 percent of the total market, reaching GBP 832.1 million – enough to position it ahead of land activities like bingo (11 percent), arcades (5 percent) and lotteries (5 percent).

Drilling down into the remote gaming stats, the report reveals that UK-licensed operators, including betting exchanges and pool betting, achieved GBP 788 million in GGY.

Online revenues rose 39 percent in the 2012-2013 period to GBP 20.7 billion, with sports betting accounting for the bulk of that; punters bet mostly on football. tennis and horseracing.

Internet casino revenues jumped up dramatically to generate revenues of GBP 863 million (previously GBP 512 million) and GGY of GBP 41.7 million – almost double the previous April 2011-March 2012 period.

In this sector slots were the punters’ favourite, reaching GBP 385 million in revenues and delivering GGY of GBP 24.7 million. Online table game action came in next, delivering revenues of GBP 404,7 million – a very significant increase – with GGY again doubled to GBP 10.3 million.

Internet bingo fared significantly less well, delivering revenues of GBP 34.1 million and GGY of GBP 2.5 million.

Online player sign-ups were encouraging, rising by over a million new accounts to 16.53 million, with active player account numbers growing from 3.82 million to 4.62 million.

The Gambling Commission report backs up land and online operator claims that the industry as a whole is a major employer in the UK economy, although employment numbers have decreased by just over 2,000 this time around this time to 107,791…that represents a decrease over the longer term of 18,000 jobs in the past five years in the UK.

Online gambling operators in the UK employed 4,669 in the reporting period – again a decline from the 5,421 posted in the 2011-2012 comparative period.

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