U.K. Gambling Commission (UKGC) Chief Executive Andrew Rhodes February 9 spoke at the ICE London 2023 expo on the “latest research shaping regulatory decisions in U.K. gambling.”
According to Rhodes, as reported by SBC News, the market has “settled” after the three years of disruptions from the pandemic. The data, he said, implies that “gambling may well have settled into a new normal,” despite economic challenges facing the U.K.
He declared, “As of September 2022, overall participation in any gambling activity, in the last four weeks, remains statistically stable at 44 percent compared to the year to September 2021.”
He added, “Within that, the level of online gambling has continued its long-term trend up to 27 percent and this is matched by land-based gambling as well,” per SBC.
The rate of problem gambling is also stable, nor has there been a dramatic increase in online gaming, said Rhodes. “This means operators need to be that bit more competitive and innovative if they want to continue to grow in the British market. Or they need to diversify abroad…The truth is both are happening.”
Since the pandemic the British market has seen the top three operators increase their market share to more than half. Ten U.K. brands account for 77 percent of the gross gambling yield (GGY) of the market.
Despite this growth, the largest operators report revenues are down “due to safer gambling measures they are introducing. Now we aren’t saying these groups are getting everything right, but this is a development that has our attention,” said Rhodes.
He believes that new compliance measures have affected the competitive landscape of U.K. gaming. At the same time the commission is gathering data that shows how “different each consumer can be,” he said.
Individual players are losing less money per month; those losing more than £500 per month have declined by 8 percent and those losing more than £200 declining by 2 percent. “Yet despite reporting GGY declines, data reveals that larger operators continue to register an increased volume in bets (+5 percent) and active player numbers of 6 percent,” said Rhodes.
He concluded, “given the number of bets being placed with the largest 5 operators increased by 4 billion and the number of active accounts by some 4 million, it doesn’t suggest there is a flood away from gambling either, but clearly some patterns have changed during the last year.”
Rhodes also spoke about affordability checks/controls, which remain the most controversial of the commission’s policies. He defended the determination by the commission that operators had fallen down on the job in doing the checks in recent years. An example: a nurse who spent £245,000 in three months when the operator knew that her annual income was £30,000.
While insisting that affordability checks are necessary, Rhodes added that the commission “has not imposed blanket so-called ‘affordability checks’ or set limits on what we think anyone should be ‘allowed’ to spend.”
He concluded by noting that the upcoming review of the Gambling Act of 2005 review “will also have a big part to play in our plans. We continue to work with DCMS [The Department of Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport) and will continue to take action to protect consumers where needed.”
