The UK Gambling Commission published the gambling industry statistics and provided the latest details on each of the industry sectors that it currently regulates. Such industry statistics are published twice a year, in May and November, and include online gambling services offered to the local customers.
According to the data revealed by the UK Gambling Commission, the total gross gambling yield of the gambling industry in Great Britain was estimated to £13.8 billion over the period from October 2015 to September 2016. Also, a total of 106,678 employees have been engaged in the local gambling industry, with the figure representing a 0.4% decline from the number of employees registered in March 2015.
There is also a 1.4% decline in the number of betting shops on the territory of the country in comparison to March 2016, to 8,788 in total. The bingo premises in Great Britain also saw a decline in their overall number. Now, over the latest reported period, the bingo premises in the country amounted to 583, representing a 5.7% decrease from March 2016. The casinos, on the other hand, saw little change in their number with only one fewer than in March 2016. As of September 2016, there were 147 casinos in the UK.
The UK gambling regulatory authority also revealed some data related to the online gambling sector. The UK Gambling Commission said that the total gross gambling yield for the remote sector of the UK in the period from October 2015 to September 2016 amounted to £4.5 billion. On the other hand, the market share of the remote casino, sports betting and bingo sector was 32% in the above-mentioned period.
The total number of gaming machines in the UK decreased by 0.2% from the number registered from April 2015 to March 2016 and reached 176,410.
The National Lottery was reported as the largest contributor to good causes in the period from October 2015 to September 2016, although the amount decreased by 5.7% in comparison to the one made from April 2015 to March 2016. The overall contributions made by the National Lottery over the period amounted to £1.7 billion. On the other hand, the contributions made to good causes from other large society lotteries increased by 9% in comparison to the preceding period, amounting to £231.8 million.
As far as players are concerned, the statistics published by the UK Gambling Commission showed that British players lost a record amount of £13.8 billion over the year ended in September 2016. A total of £1.82 billion out of this amount were lost on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), which have recently been under fire. The fixed-odds betting machines have been put under a lot of criticism lately, due to their high addictiveness and high levels of risk.
The statistics have been released only a few weeks before the UK Government presents its long-awaited gambling industry review. The review has been initiated due to the increased criticism towards fixed-odds betting terminals, which have been one of the main reasons why tighter scrutiny and regulatory regime have been considered.
- Author
Daniel Williams
