Online turns into UK's largest gaming sector, tops USD 4.9B

Gambling Commission industry statistics show that between April 2015 and March 2016 the online gambling operators generated a Gross Gambling Yield (GGY1) of £4.5billion. 

This means online gambling is the largest gambling sector in Britain – over the same period £3.4billion was generated by the National Lottery, £3.3billion by the high street betting sector and £1billion by traditional casinos.

Of the £4.5billion generated online £2.6billion came from casino games, £1.6billion from betting, £152million from betting exchanges, £153million from bingo and £26million from pool betting. Online slot machine style games alone generated £1.8billion.

Other highlights of the report include:

• Britain’s gambling industry generated a GGY of £13.6billion between April 2015 and March 2016

• Between April 2015 and March 2016 the National Lottery contributed £1.8billion to good causes, representing a 7.2% increase on the previous year.

• A total of £208m was raised for good causes through large society lotteries, representing a 10.5% increase on the previous year.

• There are 8,709 betting shops in Britain as of September 2016, representing a 1.8% decrease from March 2015

• The total number of gaming machines was 167,839, down 0.4% on the previous year

• As of March 2016 there were 34,884 B2 gaming machines in Britain, down 0.9% on March 20152

• There are 575 bingo premises in September 2016, down 4.3% on March 2016

• 104,896 people were employed in Britain’s gambling industry, down 1.5% on the March 2015.

Gambling Commission programme director James Green said: “Our latest statistics show that with the growth in online gambling the industry is increasingly taking a creative approach to using technology to engage consumers. As the online sector grows operators will also need to demonstrate that they are taking an equally innovative approach to ensuring gambling is safe for all online consumers.”

Check the UKGC industry statistics.