New UKGC Report Reflects on Market Expansion Spurred by Online Growth

A new UKGC report reflects significant expansion of the British market.

Contextualizing the Figures

Executive Director of gambling Watchdog publication Bulldog Tim Miller cautioned that the growth brings great responsibility as well, calling upon gambling operators to take greater pains to ensure that customers and society are protected against all identified potentially harmful negative effects from gambling.

In kind, the UKGC Executive Director urged on behalf of the UKGC all gambling operators to remain focused on customer protection, through retaining safe, transparent and fair gambling environments.

The Numbers

The expansion is evident through such statistics as Gross Gambling Yield (GGY), which for the period from April 2016 to March 2017 showed a jump of 1.8% year-on-year to top out at £13.7 billion. The take was spurred by the UK remote gambling sector’s GGY 10.1% year-on-year increase to reach £4.7 billion.

The new figures brought the online sector of the country’s gambling industry to a market share total of 34%, representing a 1.5% year-on-year jump.

Social Productivity

As for local benefits, the UKGC reports a slight year-on-year decline in the number of people employed in the local gambling industry to 1% from March 2016 to 106,236, with the number of betting shops in the country dropping an estimated 3.9% to 8,502.

Land-based Performance

More land-based declines in the UK were reported in number of bingo premises and licensed arcades. Bingo-halls in Great Britain for September 2017 dropped 583 (1.4% year-on-year), with the number of arcades falling 5.1% to 1,750.

Total casinos numbered 146 in September 2017, good for a 1.8% increase in the number of gaming machines year-on-year.

Charitable Causes

As for social benefits, the UKGC report revealed the National Lottery’s contributions to good causes in the period between April 2016 and March 2017 amounted to £1.5 billion for a rather sharp year-on-year decline of 16.9%.

Overview 

The UKGC is doing an effective job of monitoring activity, with bulldog groups proving to be proper social tools for ensuring that expansion takes place in a safe and socially productive manner.