A few days ago, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) published more extensive data regarding the impact of the more relaxed lockdown measures on British citizens’ gambling behaviour.
The period from March 2020 to December 2021 has been reflected in the data provided by Licensed Betting Operators (LBOs) on UK high streets, with both in-person and online gambling on the territory of the country. The British gambling regulatory body has warned that one must proceed with caution when making any comparisons on a year-on-year basis between some months in 2020 and in 2021 because the operating circumstances in these two years have been different.
The latest update of the UKGC contains gambling operator data to December 2021 and refers to quarters in the 2021/2022 financial year. It enriches data that the gambling watchdog previously published and now corrected. The major gambling regulatory body of the UK noted that it would publish such data every quarter, so the analysis would make a quarter-to-quarter comparison.
Overall Online GGY Falls by 6% in Q3 but Online Bets Continue to Increase
According to the latest operator data, the total online gross gaming yield (GGY) was almost £421 million in December, which boosted the GGY in the third financial quarter (October-December 2021) to £1.2 billion. The figure represented a 6% decline from the second financial quarter (July-September 2021). The overall number of total bets rose by 4% in Q3, while the number of active accounts remained pretty much unchanged.
The slots gross gaming yield between quarters two and three rose by 1% to £568 million. The number of active players rose by 5% to 9.8 million, while the number of bets/spins increased by 3% to 18.2 billion.
The UK Gambling Commission reported that the number of slot sessions that lasted more than an hour online rose by 8% to more than 8.1 million in the period between the second and the third financial quarter. The gambling watchdog also noted that the average session length was 19 minutes, and about 7% of all sessions lasted more than an hour.
The gross gaming yield of licensed betting operators in the UK fell by 15 to £533 million in Q3 from the previous quarter, while the number of overall spins and bets rose to 3.3 billion.
UKGC Continues to Expect Vigilance from British Gambling Operators
The UKGC explained that the country is now entering a new phase, as the restrictions associated with the coronavirus pandemic have been relaxed and everyone adjusts to life after them. The gambling regulator said it continues to expect operators to be extra vigilant in order to prevent gambling-related harm from being inflicted on customers, who have already been affected by unfavourable circumstances brought on by the Covid-19 crisis.
As noted by the UK gambling watchdog, many people will still be vulnerable due to the length of the coronavirus pandemic, further economic uncertainty and other factors, so gambling operators in the country should do everything possible to minimise the potential detrimental impact of their services.
Apart from that, the UKGC continues to track market-related risk by making assessments of the impact that its strengthened guidance had on gambling companies. It would continue to monitor key data along with collecting and publishing it. On the other hand, it intends to take further measures to enhance its regulatory requirements, encompassing changes to the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) and the Remote Technical Standards (RTS).
- Author
Olivia Cole
