Online gambling in the UK brought in £4.7 billion from April 2016 to March 2017 according to figures released by the UK Gambling Commission.
The figures reflect gross gambling yield and represents a 10.1 percent increase over the previous fiscal year. Overall the UK gambling industry saw a GGY of £13.7 billion for the fiscal year, a 1.8 percent increase over the same period last year.
According to the report, online gambling now makes up 34 percent of the gambling market in the UK, a 1.5 percent increase over last year.
The report also showed a 3.9 percent year-on-year decrease in the number of retail betting shops in the UK at 8,502 as well as a 1.4 percent decline in bingo facilities at 583. The number of retail shops operating is the lowest since 2009.
“The pace at which betting shops are closing is very bad news for the future of a retailer that has been a fixture of the high street for over 55 years,” Malcolm George, Chief Executive of the Association of British Bookmakers said in a press release in response to the statistics. “The government is currently consulting on gaming machines in betting shops. Any significant change in regulation could lead to over half of all shops closing and the loss of a further 21,000 jobs while doing nothing to address problem gambling.”
The UK is in the middle of a public comment phase on a proposal to lower the maximum amount allowed for a single bet in fixed odds betting terminals. The terminals are the life blood of retail shops and a significant cut in the maximum bet allowed—now at £100—is expected to greatly reduce retail gambling revenue. 13.7
The new statistics showed the number of people employed within the gambling industry decreased by 1 percent since March 2016 to 106,236.
The report also said that more 1 million requests were made by gamblers to online operators asking to close accounts and help them stop gambling in 2016-17, compared with 618,000 the year before. The total for other forms of gambling was 49,385 requests, including casinos, arcades and bingo.
“These latest figures show that the gambling market is continuing to grow, particularly in the online sector,” said Tim Miller, executive director of the commission. “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.”
