The UK has seen a huge amount of growth in online gambling over the past 5 years. In fact online gambling represents over 32% of all gambling within Great Britain.
The figures released by the UK Gambling Commission show that in 2016 the gross gambling yield exceeded £4.5 billion. Of this £2.6 billion came from tradition slot / casino games, with £1.6 billion generated from standard betting. Other areas of gambling such as gambling exchanges, received over £150 Million. The biggest surprise was that online slots, or as the Australians call them, “Pokies” generated £1.8 billion on their own. Popular games have helped with this growth with progressive jackpot slots such as Cleopatra and Da Vinci Diamonds attracting new customers.
It is clear from the initial research, that the gambling industry is thriving in 2019, and is set to break new records in the coming years.
Other online gambling activities such as the National Lottery have generated over £3.4 billion in the 12 months before April 2016. It is clear that the UK’s online gambling industry is healthy now in turns of generated income, than it has ever been.
Even traditional land based casino houses only generated around £1 Billion pounds over the same period. In addition high street betting shops generated over £3.3 billion, which include the infamous betting machines with high stakes.
Whilst the growth in terms of revenue is fantastic, it is also an ever changing market place. Especially so with new regulations for age restrictions, verification checks and of course the point of consumption tax.
The gross gambling yield (GGY) listed above relates to the balance amount generated, after all winnings have been deducted. The figure omits the costs of operation fee’s and purely relates to the gambling revenue as a whole.
The United Kingdom in the 12 month period after April 2015 generated a staggering £13.6 Billion pounds in total. None of these figures listed would have been possible to access before the new legislation was imposed in 2014. The Gambling Licensing & Advertising Act detail the need for all casino owners to be licensed with the Gambling Commission. This in turn allows the figures to be collated and totaled up much more efficiently.
Interesting UK Gambling Establishment Facts
There are over 2,700 operators licensed with the UK Gambling Commission, with approx 10% growth expected in the next 12 months alone.
In March 2018, the total gross gambling yield for the UK hit £14.5 Billion pounds. This relates to almost 1 Billion pound growth over 2 years.
The amount of betting shops as of September 2018 declined by 132. The total amount of active betting establishments in the same year was 8,423. The same type of decline was noted for Bingo Halls, with 7 less active premises. The total for Bingo premises now stands at 650 as of September 2018. Land based casinos have seen a very slight increase, with 1 new premises becoming active. The total land based casinos active as of Sept 2018 is 152.
Physical gambling arcades have seen a decrease in active establishments by around 5.3% from March 2018.
The remote sector, which relates to “Online Gambling” saw a 1.2% increase in the year ending March 2018. This figure relates to online betting, casino games and bingo combined.
The contributions to good causes is just one of the benefits from gambling, with organisations such as The National Lottery. Between October 2017 – Sept 2018 over £1.5 Billion pounds was donated by the Lottery alone to good causes. In addition over £300 Million was donated from other lotteries and societies.
In terms of workforce, as of September 2018 there were over 106,000 jobs created by operators. This excludes all of the other positive outcomes such as hardware, IT and other professionals who are contracted by licensed operators. The team at Casino Football alone work with over 25 different companies, some based in the UK and USA.
The new systems put in place to apply “Social Responsibility” have recorded some interesting facts. For instance the Self Exclusion option for customers was used by over 1,566,900 customers between October 2017 – September 2018. These figures cover Arcades, Betting Shops, Bingo Houses, Casinos, and Remote Gambling.
Typically the self exclusion options should cover the following areas for customers:
- Exclusion for 24 Hours
- Exclusion for 7 Days
- Exclusion for 1 Month
- Exclusion for up to 6 weeks ( Or a period that the customer requests)
The active self exclusion figures for remote gambling is the largest with 1.5 Million alone, highlighting the success of this “Social Responsibility Mechanism”. The UK Gambling Commission as well as other agencies such as GamStop and Be Gamble Aware were instrumental in ensuring the success of this compliance condition. In equal fairness nearly every licensed casino has embraced the new rules and are putting customers first.
The aim of the new compliance measures is to make gambling fairer and safer. Judging from the figures published by the UK Gambling Commission, it is clearly a big step in the right direction.
There is little doubt that the UK Gambling Sector is healthier in terms of revenue than it has ever been.