Earlier today, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) published the latest gambling industry statistics to unveil more detailed information on each sector which it regulates.
The country’s gambling watchdog publishes its industry statistics twice a year, in May and November. The latest data provided by the regulator cover the period between October 2017 and September 2018 and include online gambling services. The official statistics published by the UKGC have been compiled thanks to the data provided by British gambling licence holders through their regulatory returns.
The UKGC revealed that the total gross gambling yield of the local gambling industry in the period from October 2017 to September 2018 suffered a 0.4% decline from the period between April 2017 to March 2018, reaching £14.5 billion. The overall gross gambling yield for the online gambling sector, however, rose by 2.9% from the previous period to £5.6 billion. The market share of the remote gambling sector also registered an increase of 1.2%, reaching 39% in the last reporting period.
A 1.4% decrease in the number of people employed in the local gambling industry from March 2018 was registered, with a total of 106,670 employees working in the sector in September 2018.
Follow the link to find out more about the new National Strategy to Reduce Gambling Harms and its aims for the next three years. https://t.co/H868TkVoOG #reducinggamblingharms pic.twitter.com/yyDaBaLUbv
— Gambling Commission (@GamRegGB) May 24, 2019
The Commission revealed detailed information about the number of casinos, sports betting parlours and bingo premises in the country. There were 152 casinos in the UK in September 2018, which is 1 more than their number in March last year. A 1.5% decrease was registered in the number of betting shops from March 2018 to 8,423. Bingo premises also saw a 1.1% in their number, to 650 in September 2018. The number of licensed arcades in the UK fell by 5.3% to 1,639 to September 2018.
UKGC Remains Focused on Stricter Gambling Market Regulation
An interesting trend registered from October 2017 to September 2018 shows that the number of gaming machines across the country saw a 2.4% increase from the previous reporting period, to 183,813. The ones requiring only a local authority permit are excluded from the aforementioned total number.
The period from October 2017 to September 2018 seemed to be profitable for the online gambling industry, in comparison to the land-based gambling sector which has been subjected to stricter regulatory measured by local watchdogs and the UK Government.
The Industry Insight’s Programme Director Ben Haden has explained that continuous growth is being registered in the online gambling sector, despite the marginal decline reported by the wider gambling industry. The Commission, however, is to remain focused on the sector’s regulation and raising industry standards. The Commission reminded that they have recently implemented new rules aimed at bolstering age and ID verification checks in order to protect vulnerable customers.
New rules have come in today surrounding age and identity verification procedures for online operators. #fairerandsafer https://t.co/JzdFpqzfP2 pic.twitter.com/FcMqkF07Ll
— Gambling Commission (@GamRegGB) May 7, 2019
The contributions made by the National Lottery to good causes in the latest reporting period amounted to £1.5 billion, representing a 0.3% increase from April 2017-March 2018. On the other hand, contribution to good causes from large society lotteries saw a 5.1% increase from the previous period, reaching £314 million.
- Author
Daniel Williams
