In the latest survey by the U.K. Gambling Commission, gambling participation in the country fell to 41.6 percent in June 2021. The decrease amounted to 3.5 percent over June 2020 figures. The total also came in below figures from December 2020.
Gambling rates slipped across each age and gender category, according to iGaming Business.
Removing the National Lottery from the equation, the number gambling in June came in at 28.3 percent, a decrease from 30.5 percent in June 2020.
Analyses indicated the fall off resulted mostly from a drop in retail gambling, with online gambling rising from 16.8 percent to 17.6 percent. Retail gambling tumbled from 31.8 percent to 24.1 percent.
A larger portion of lottery players moved online with growth from 11.4 percent to 13.8 percent. At the same time, the portion of the population who bought tickets in person declined from 19.9 percent to 14.7 percent.
More than 26 percent of those surveyed bought lottery tickets, making it the most popular form of gambling. Sports betting came in at 5.5 percent, horse race betting at 3.2 percent, online slots at 3.7 percent and casino games at 1.1 percent all remained even, with bingo on the decline.
The number of problem gamblers—0.4 percent—was about the same as last December. People considered at medium risk of gambling harm dropped from 1.4 percent to 0.7 percent, with the sharpest decline among young people.
Figures for those facing some risk dropped from 4.2 percent in 2020 to 3.1 percent in 2021.
