UK online market keeps growing

The latest numbers from the UK Gambling Commission, covering the period April 2016 to March 2017, show that online gross gambling yield (GGY) totals GBP 4.7 billion – a 10.1 percent year-on-year rise, and an improvement on the GBP 4.5 billion generated between October 2015 and September 2016.

The gambling sector as a whole delivered GGY of GBP 13.7 billion, a 1.8 percent rise on the same period last year, but behind the GBP 13.8 billion recorded in October 2015 to September 2016.

Online gambling is now responsible for 34 percent of the entire UK market, up 1.5 percent on last year.

The latest report shows that there has been a 3.9 percent decrease in the number of retail betting shops in the UK, down to 8,502, whilst bingo land facilities declined 1.4 percent to 583. There has also been a reduction in the number of licensed gaming arcades in the UK during the period.

The total number of land casinos increased by 1 to 146, and the number of land-based gaming machines climbed 1.8 percent to 182,916.

The report notes that contributions to good causes from the UK National Lottery fell 16.9 percent year-on-year to GBP 1.5 billion, although contributions from large society lotteries jumped 20.5 percent to GBP 255.6 million.

The number of UK persons employed by the gambling industry as a whole fell 1 percent to 106,236.

Tim Miller, executive director of the UKGC, said:

“These latest figures show that the gambling market is continuing to grow, particularly in the online sector.

“However, with such growth comes a great responsibility for operators to prevent gambling-related harm to all consumers and the public. We would urge all gambling businesses to be acutely aware that as their market grows so too will our focus on ensuring that consumers are protected.”

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