Compared to the U.K., U.S. sports betting is a babe in the woods. So it should come as no surprise that a recent examination of the U.K. market by the National Centre for Social Research could give the U.S. some tips, according to Legal Sports Report.
Researchers David Forrest and Ian McHale analyzed 140,000 U.K. accounts between July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019, pre-pandemic. These are some of the findings.
- More than 129,000 lost a minimum of $2,395 a year each.
- A limited sample of 50,000 played what amounted to eight full days of online slots; the group was mostly female.
- Online slots made up 60 percent of all gaming spending in the report.
- Most gamblers participated in a single online gambling activity.
- The study found that 94 percent of revenue came from men.
- More than half of bettors and online gamblers ranged between 25 and 44 years old and they contributed more than half of all revenue.
- If betting on horse racing and football (soccer) are removed from the equation, betting on virtual sports was “skewed towards the most deprived areas.”
- The top 1 percent of customers (based on betting volume) accounted for 36.4 percent of the operators’ total win. The top 10 account for 79.1 percent.
- Bettors with the highest losses also tended to live in less well-off neighborhoods.
- Like sports bettors, 20 percent of customers accounted for 90 percent of online casino revenue.
- No more than 20 percent took advantage of deposit limits to curb gambling harm.
- Timeouts and self-exclusion were used less frequently.
Participants offered suggestions for reducing gambling harm.
- Restricting certain types of play;
- Limiting advertising around in-play wagers;
- Multi-operator self-exclusion;
- Hard stake limits, as self-imposed limits were deemed “weak.”
While sports betting (including horse racing) proved more prevalent than online casino gambling, online casino is where the money is made. Spending was higher in online casino gaming across all eight studied age groups. The rapidity of online slots was viewed as a risk factor associated with heavy losses.
