Regulatory requirements set to slow UK online gambling growth
News on 7 Nov 2018
News on 7 Nov 2018
In a new report titled “UK Online Gambling: Data Forecasting & Market Shares”, UK gambling intelligence and consultant Gambling Compliance predicts that growth in UK online gambling revenue will dip below the traditional double-digit rates historically recorded.
The report predicts that regulatory pressures will slow growth to around 7 percent p.a., with revenues reaching GBP 6.42 billion annually by 2020 from GBP 5.24 billion in 2017. Since 2013, annual growth has been more than double that rate.
The report cites onerous new regulatory requirements, including more rigorous due-diligence checks and affordability tests, as factors weighing on online casino operators in particular, with multimillion pound fines in store for companies found to have deficient player protection standards.
Publication of the report comes on the heels of the latest tax hike for remote gaming companies – from 15 percent to 21 percent – announced in the UK budget last week and effective October 2019.
“Next year’s hike in the rate of remote gaming duty from 15 to 21 percent adds to the mounting regulatory headwinds and enforcement actions which are challenging traditional operating models and the reliance of operators on high-spending VIP customers,” said Daniel Stone, Gambling Compliance’s head of data content and the report’s author.
“We nevertheless expect the decelerating UK market to grow by over GBP 1 billion in absolute terms between 2017 and 2020, cementing its status as the largest regulated online gambling market in the world,” Stone added.
In addition to future market-size projections, the report includes exclusive estimates on the market shares held by operators in the UK’s online betting and gaming sectors.
The report finds that bet365 was the UK’s largest online gambling operator by total revenue in 2017, as the Stoke-based group overtook former market-leader Paddy Power Betfair during the course of the year.
Bet365 also extended its lead as the UK’s largest online sports-betting brand by a clear distance, pulling away from Sky Bet, Betfair and William Hill in a market dominated by seven major brands owned by five different companies.
In the UK’s more fragmented market for online gaming, Ladbrokes Coral took the top slot in 2017, followed by Sky Bet, William Hill and bingo specialist Jackpotjoy.
