UK online gambling market expands to £4.7bn

Gross gambling yield (GGY) within the UK online gaming market totalled £4.7bn (€5.35bn/$6.33bn) in the period from April 2016 to March 2017.

According to the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), this represents a 10.1% rise on remote GGY in the corresponding period in the previous financial year, as well as an increase on the £4.5bn generated between October 2015 and September 2016.

The UK gambling industry as a whole heralded GGY of £13.7bn from April 2016 to March 2017, placing it 1.8% ahead of the same period last year, but behind the £13.8bn recorded in October 2015 to September 2016.

Remote gambling is now responsible for 34% of the entire UK market, up 1.5% on last year.

Other findings from the UKGC include a 3.9% year-on-year drop in the number of betting shops, down to 8,502, while the total number of bingo premises fell 1.4% to 583.

The UKGC also reported a 5.1% decline in the number of licensed arcades in the UK during the period, although the total number of casinos increased by 1 to 146, and the number of gaming machines climbed 1.8% to 182,916.

Contributions to good causes from the UK National Lottery slipped 16.9% year-on-year to £1.5bn, although contributions from large society lotteries jumped 20.5% to £255.6m.

In addition, the total number of employees in the UK gambling industry fell 1% to 106,236.

Tim Miller, executive director of the UKGC, said: “These latest figures show that the gambling market is continuing to grow, particularly in the online sector.

“However, with such growth comes a great responsibility for operators to prevent gambling-related harm to all consumers and the public. We would urge all gambling businesses to be acutely aware that as their market grows so too will our focus on ensuring that consumers are protected.”

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