For decades, bingo halls have been a popular place for entertainment, gambling and socialisation, especially for elderly people for whom this type of gambling has become a favourite activity. However, a recent report reveals less attendance in bingo halls across the United Kingdom combined with an interesting trend among players over the age of 55 – they are increasingly enjoying online gambling from their homes.
In fact, online participation has increased across most activities, not just bingo, according to the data from the latest Gambling Participation and Perceptions Report, released by the UK Gambling Commission last week. It tracks trends, participation rates, problem gambling figures, online gambling behaviour, attitudes towards gambling and consumer awareness of gambling management tools. The survey compares data from 2016 and from 2017, revealing several major tendencies, namely the rise of online and mobile gambling and the slight decrease in problem gamblers.
National lottery draws remain the most popular form of in-person gambling activity in 2017, with 75.8 per cent of all gamblers admitting they have participated in lotteries in the past four weeks. There is a 3 per cent decrease from 2016, while online participation in the national lottery draws has risen from 28 to 32.5 per cent. The same tendency can be seen across most gambling activities, with in-person bingo playing seeing the largest decrease. While in the four weeks prior to the survey in 2016, 85.1 per cent of the people said they played at bingo halls, only 70.6 per cent participated in bingo games for the same period in 2017.
This is a decrease of almost 15 per cent, which is even more significant when we look at the figures for online bingo participation. They reveal a jump from 20.4 per cent to 39.8 per cent, the greatest increase in people playing online from 2016. Meanwhile, the number of bingo halls across the United Kingdom has fallen from 600 to 350 in the past decade, reported The Sun. Citing the same data from UKGC, the newspaper adds that 300,000 people in the country have switched to online gambling, with one in five players over the age of 55 enjoying online games from their homes.
Highlights from the UKGC Report for 2017
The Gambling Participation and Perceptions Report, published by the Gambling Commission on 27 February, reveals that 45 per cent of adults aged 16 and over have participated in some form of gambling in the past four weeks, which is a 3 per cent drop from 2016. Men remain bigger gambling fans – 48 per cent of them have participated in said activities, compared to only 41 per cent of women.
A total of 18.3 per cent of adults have gambled online and almost all (97%) online gamblers play at home, while 5.6 per cent of people have participated in some type of online betting activity. Interestingly, 51 per cent of online gamblers played games or placed bets from a mobile phone or a tablet, which is an increase of 8 per cent compared to the same period in 2016. On average, people gambling online held 4 accounts each in 2017, compared to only 3 the previous year.
- Author
Daniel Williams
