UK Gambling Profits Grow From Online Betting, Shows Study

The Study

The UK Gambling Commission report, published in May 2021, showed a gross gambling yield of $8.2 billion (£5.93 billion) from April to September 2020. The result came from different gambling activities, including bingo, lotteries, remote betting and other online streams.

52.3% of the overall yield, which totals $4.3 billion (£3.11 billion), came from remote and online betting. It was generated from all online wagers, including racetrack betting. 69.3% of all the wagers went to slots, amounting to $3 billion (£2.17 billion). Roulette and blackjack took 14% and 6% of the revenue, respectively. Bingo generated $246 million (£177.81 million) in revenue in the year 2020.

The second-largest earner was The National Lottery that raked in $2.2 billion (£1.59 billion). It was followed closely by in-person betting that generated $875.2 million (£632.58 million). Out of this figure, 48.5% was generated from the machines. The government collects data from all industry sources and makes it available for public consumption. Online casinos (including live casino) ranked fourth, beating their land-based counterparts.

Additional Results

However, the average session per player had gone up to more than 20 minutes. This is a leap from the slowdown experienced in January and February. The report showed that the GGY across this industry had gone down by a whopping 19% in that period compared to the months before them. Despite the slowdown, the session length increased by 4% between December and February, only that players were spending less.

HM Revenues and Customs also reported a decrease in the tax collected from gaming activities in 2020. Revenues collected from the gaming industry between April 2020 and March 2021 stood at $3.9 billion (£2.82 billion). They dropped about 6% (£182.86 million) compared to the same period between April 2019 and March 2020.

On the other hand, the LeanBackPlayer report showed that remote gambling brought in over half of the revenue collected in this industry. Google Trends data showed an increase in casino searches online, with pundits associating it with lockdowns that caused land-based casinos to close their doors. Despite the rise in online gambling, its revenues have gone down by 6% during the pandemic. Land-based casinos submitted 62% less tax, while in-person gaming was down 44% in the same period.

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Joshua Rawlings Written by Joshua Rawlings