Fascinating Insights in the 2017 UKGC Gambling Participation Report
Published March 7, 2018 by Mike P
Online Casino Reports reveals the key findings from the Gambling Participation Report 2017, which comes hot off the presses from the UK Gambling Commission.
A string of fascinating insights have emerged in the wake of the publication of the Gambling Participation Report 2017 by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). The annual report is one of the most eagerly anticipated milestones in the UKGC calendar, with gambling operators and industry personnel ready to start interpreting the fresh statistics.
Arguably, the most prevalent finding was that overall gambling participation declined from 45% in 2016 to 42% in 2017, representing a decrease of 3%. For online operators, however, there was reason to be philosophical, as the report shows more promising results for the mobile gambling field.
Rising Mobile Usage
In 2016, there was a 43% engagement rate among respondents who used their smartphone or tablet to gambling online, but a year later the rate spiked by eight points to reach 51% for 2017. Comparatively, the overall participation rate for online gambling remained static at 14%, among other markets, whereas mobile exhibited greater growth potential.
There was also a suggestion that mobile devices are surpassing desktop devices. Some 50% of respondents said they used their laptop to gamble online in 2017, which represented a 10% decrease from two years prior. On PCs, though, there was much lower response rate of 33%.
From 2016 until 2017, meanwhile, there was an increase from 43% to 51% when it came to gambling on smartphones or tablets. When it comes to exclusively gambling on smartphone, there was a rise from 29% to 39%. All in all, UK residents have appeared to be more willing to use their mobile devices.
Social Results
The report also touched upon social elements and was able to reveal that 0.8% of respondents identified as being problem gamblers in 2017. A further 3.9% of respondents defined themselves as at-risk gamblers, while 6% had taken up the option of self-exclusion during the year.
When exploring the demographics, there was considerable growth in older consumers turning to gambling. For those aged 55 to 64, there was an increase of 14 points to 46%. There was also a strong rise of 11 points to 28% for gamblers aged 65 or older.
