Interactive
UK – New figures show online gambling is largest gambling sector in Britain
By Phil - 28 November 2016
Online gambling accounts for 33 per cent of all gambling in Britain, new figures released today reveal.
Gambling Commission industry statistics show that between April 2015 and March 2016 the online gambling operators generated a Gross Gambling Yield of £4.5bn.
This means online gambling is the largest gambling sector in Britain – over the same period £3.4bn was generated by the National Lottery, £3.3bn by the high street betting sector and £1bn by traditional casinos.
Of the £4.5bn generated online £2.6bn came from casino games, £1.6billion from betting, £152m from betting exchanges, £153m from bingo and £26m n from pool betting. Online slot machine style games alone generated £1.8bn. Britain’s gambling industry generated a GGY of £13.6bn between April 2015 and March 2016
Between April 2015 and March 2016 the National Lottery contributed £1.8bn to good causes, representing a 7.2 per cent increase on the previous year.
A total of £208m was raised for good causes through large society lotteries, representing a 10.5 per cent increase on the previous year.
There are 8,709 betting shops in Britain as of September 2016, representing a 1.8 per cent decrease from March 2015.
The total number of gaming machines was 167,839, down 0.4 per cent on the previous year.
As of March 2016 there were 34,884 B2 gaming machines in Britain, down 0.9 per cent on March 2015.
There are 575 bingo premises in September 2016, down 4.3 per cent on March 2016.
104,896 people were employed in Britain’s gambling industry, down 1.5 per cent on the March 2015.
Gambling Commission programme director James Green said: “Our latest statistics show that with the growth in online gambling the industry is increasingly taking a creative approach to using technology to engage consumers. As the online sector grows operators will also need to demonstrate that they are taking an equally innovative approach to ensuring gambling is safe for all online consumers.”
