The UK gambling sector has considerably increased its size over the past ten years, mainly because of the raising popularity of online gambling among local customers. Another factor that is considered to have helped the British gambling industry boost its market share is the more liberal approach that the Government of the Prime Minister Tony Blair had in terms of gambling legislation and regulation.
Betting operators in the territory of the UK were given the opportunity to access their potential customers directly in their homes thanks to the Gambling Act 2005, which permitted online casinos, sports betting and poker TV advertising.
The Rise of the UK Gambling Industry
Apart from that, online gambling options as well as fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) have made it easier for local customers to place bets. FOBTs, which have been put under a lot of criticism lately, have given the start of a whole new era in the British gambling industry, by allowing players place bets of up to £100 every 20 seconds.
As reported by The Guardian, according to some figures presented by the UK Gambling Commission, the profit generated by the industry has greatly increased. Respectively, the tax paid by the sector to the UK Treasury, has also rose. The UK gambling regulatory authority has revealed that the Gambling Act 2005 had a massive impact on the industry’s income, with the latter being estimated to £8.36 billion in the fiscal year which began in April 2008, soon after the piece of legislation came into force.
The market share of the country’s gambling industry has continued its massive increase, with the profits being boosted to the record £13.8 billion over the fiscal year that ended in September 2016. The result was driven largely by an increase registered in customer spending rates of online gambling, fixed-odds betting machines and on the National Lottery. On the other hand, the large profits registered by the online gambling sector have been driven by the fact that foreign operators have been included for the last three years.
Fixed-Odds Betting Terminals’ Impact
As mentioned above, fixed-odds betting machines were one of the major drivers of the massive rise of the UK gambling industry, with their popularity increasing literally by the day. As a matter of fact, the amount of money spent by local players of FOBTs has reached mind-blowing rates.
The customer spending on FOBTs has risen by 73% since 2009, reaching £1.8 billion, while the number of machines has increased by 9% only over the same period of time, reaching 34,388. The machines have become very attractive to local punters mainly because they offer quick and easy betting options, along with a maximum bet of £100 that can be placed every 20 seconds.
That was one of the main reasons why fixed-odds betting terminals have been put under fire lately, with a number of governmental and non-governmental authorities, as well as charity organisations, strongly suggesting that the maximum bet allowed at FOBTs should be reduced from £100 to just £2. The addictive nature of the machines has also been criticised, despite the fact that the Association of British Bookmakers (ABB) denied there is a link between fixed-odds betting terminals and problem gambling. However, the situation is concerning, especially considering data included in a recent report of the UK Gambling Commission. The latter found that 11.5% of the people who prefer betting on FOBTs actually suffer from problem gambling behaviour.
Gambling Addictions
Problem gambling behaviour, on the other hand, has been an inseparable part of the rise of the UK gambling industry. With the casino, sports betting, poker, lottery and bingo options constantly rising, the number of gambling addicts in the country has drastically increased.
And despite that the recent report of the UK Gambling Commission claims that the number of people suffering from problem gambling behaviour in the UK was stable, a number of surveys have found some trends in terms of gambling addictions that could be worrying.
The UK Government has been focused on tackling the problem, unveiling various initiatives, such as the self-exclusion scheme that can be used by local players who would like to prevent themselves from placing bets in certain betting shops or online gambling websites. Since monitoring of the current self-exclusion scheme has been too complicated for both operators and authorities, the Government has been considering some modifications in the scheme, allowing customers to self-exclude themselves from all gambling venues on the territory of the country.
- Author
Daniel Williams
