Online gambling the UK market’s only growing vertical

The UKGC has been cracking the whip regarding internet operators’ social liability obligations, and self-exclusions shot up nearly 11% to over 1.5m during the period of time, while known breaches of those exclusions were up 13 percent to 99k. Operators challenged over 100k gamblers (once they had gambled, actually) regarding their age up 28% from the prior period.

It’s worth noting that decline came before into the UK government’s pushed reduction in maximum betting stakes on fixed-odds gambling terminals (FOBT), which took effect on April 1. The number of all FOBTs in performance at the conclusion of the reporting period was 33,190, over 500 fewer than were during the number of FOBT in seven years and the period in performance.

Whilst gambling machines in betting shops saw their share decline for the first time ever, gambling continues to gobble an ever-larger talk of their UK market. Regardless, on the web betting’s growth continued, accounting for GGY of 5.63b and a market share of 38.8%, up from 37.1% in the past period. Online casino games accounted for nearly £3b (+1.8%) of the total, two thirds which originated via slots. While on the web race and sports betting gambling was essentially flat in 2.1b, entire online ‘gambling’ grew up 3.7% as a result of exchange betting rising 21 percent to nearly £343m and bingo improving 7.6% to £177.6m. During this span, UK-licensed operators generated gross gaming return (GGY) of £14.5b, which the UKGC says represents a 0.4% reduction in the 12 months ending March 2018 although they reported GGY of £14.4b during that period, so bear in mind that these amounts apparently are not carved in rock. The amount of shops was at a fresh low of 8,423down from 8,555 in the period and off the market-high of 9,128 in the close of March 2012. Ladbrokes and Gala Coral accounted for the overwhelming bulk of the closures as their parent business GVC Holdings looked for its dreaded ‘efficiencies’ on its own balance sheet.

As for the other gaming verticals, National Lottery sales and GGY were equally apartment at £6.9b and £3b, respectively. Land-based casino GGY was down 11.4percent to £859m, chiefly due to Punto banco (baccarat) GGY tumbling by two fifths to £138.8m. Land-based bingo GGY was £ 1 percent to £355.3m. Remote virtual gambling, which had been around a noticeable upswing, slipped 4.2% to £81.8m.

Gambling machines continued to account for the majority (59.2%) of all bookmakers’ GGY but that amount dropped £5.6m to £1.83b. It is a small decline nonetheless it’s the very first backward measure the machine category has taken since the UKGC began keeping score.