UK’s online gambling market expands

The online gambling industry in the United Kingdom totaled £4.7 billion from April 2016 to March 2017.

According to the United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC), gross gambling yield (GGY) from the online gaming market in the territory totaled £4.7 billion between April 2016 and March 2017, which represents a 10.1 percent increase when compared to the previous fiscal year.

The numbers released by the UKGC indicate that there has been an increase on the £4.5 billion that were generated between October 2015 and September 2016. Overall the industry in the UK generated GGY of £13.7 billion from April 2016 to March 2017, a 1.8 percent increase over the same period last year, but a little behind the of £13.8 generated from October 2015 to September 2016.

The UKGC also said that remote gambling holds 34 percent of the entire market in the UK, a 1.5 percent increase over last year. Moreover, there has been a 3.9 percent year-on-year decrease in the number of betting shops (8502), whilst the number of bingo facilities fell 1.4 percent to 583.

Furthermore, the UKGC said that the number of casinos in the territory increased by 1 to 146 and the number of gaming machines rose 1.8 percent to 182.916.

Tim Miller, executive director of the UKGC, commented: “These latest figures show that the gambling market is continuing to grow, particularly in the online sector. 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.”