GB sees fall in online betting despite overall gains

Earlier today, the Commission announced the appointment of seven new commissioners.

Covering the three months to 30 September, online total gross gambling yield (GGY) was up slightly by 0.6% to £1.2bn. During the period, the overall number of total bets and/or spins increased 10%, while the average monthly active accounts increased by 7%.

However, online real-event betting GGY decreased by 5% to £428m. Total bets for the vertical decreased by 1% while actives decreased by 0.2%.

Slots GGY increased 8% to £589m, with the number of spins up 11%. The average monthly active accounts in Q2 also increased 11% to 3.8 million per month. The number of online slots sessions lasting longer than an hour increased by 4% to 9.3 million.

The average session length decreased to 17 minutes, with approximately 7% of all sessions lasting more than one hour.

Actives numbers were mixed throughout the three months, with year-on-year increases and decreases seen in July, August and September. The same was also true of bets per month, with slots down dramatically in July but considerably up in the next two months.

SSBT play on the rise

Licensed betting office GGY decreased by 0.4% to nearly £539m in Q2 compared to the same quarter last year. The number of total bets and spins decreased by 1% to 3.1 billion.

One area of significant growth was self-service betting terminals (SSBT). The number of spins in July, August and September were up by 15.5%, 16.3% and 30% respectively year-on-year.

The data was garnered from the country’s biggest operators, who cover approximately 80% and 85% of the online and retail gambling market respectively.