Interactive
UK – British online gambling falls six per cent quarter to quarter
By Phil - 22 February 2022
The British Gambling Commission has published further data showing how online gambling behaviour is reacting to the easing of lockdown measures in Great Britain.
The operator data reflects the period between March 2020 and December 2021, inclusive, and covers online and in-person gambling with data from Licensed Betting Operators (LBOs) found on Britain’s high streets.
The latest operator data shows online total GGY was just below £421m in December, taking Q3 (October to December) GGY to £1.2bn, a decrease of six per cent from Q2 (July to September). The overall number of total bets/spins increased four per cent from Q2 to Q3, while the number of active accounts stayed steady. Slots GGY increased one per cent to £568m between Q2 and Q3. The number of spins increased three per cent to 18.2bn, while the number of active players increased five per cent to 9.8m
The number of online slots sessions lasting longer than an hour increased by eight per cent (to over 8.1m) between Q2 and Q3. The average session length lasted 19 minutes, with approximately seven per cent of all sessions lasting more than one hour. LBO GGY decreased one per cent to £533m between Q2 and Q3, while the number of total bets and spins increased to 3.3bn.
The Commission stated: “We recognise that the country is now entering a different phase as we adjust to life after a series of restrictions. We continue to expect extra vigilance from operators as consumers are impacted in different ways by the circumstances brought on by the pandemic and the wider economic environment. Many people will still feel vulnerable as a result of the length of the pandemic period, further uncertainty about their personal or financial circumstances or readjusting budgets and time as life returns to normal with a wider set of finance drivers.”
“We expect operators to continue to follow the strengthened guidance issued during the first lockdown, taking close interest in data that shows consumers expanding their portfolio of games and spending more time or money than before, interact directly where triggers are reached, in addition to their more generic email engagement and avoid any temptation to exploit the current situation for marketing purposes, in particular as consumers adjust back to a new normal and be very cautious when seeking to cross-sell productstake particular care when on-boarding new customers and making decisions over affordability checks which reflect the environment we are in.”
The Commission said it would continue to track market related risk by ‘assessing the impact of the strengthened guidance issued to operators, monitoring key data along with collecting and publishing this additional data where evidence identifies additional risks faced by consumers, taking further action to protect consumers
It will continue to take steps to permanently strengthen regulatory requirements, encompassing changes to Remote Technical Standards (RTS) and Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) to protect consumers and monitor operators very closely and conduct our compliance assessments.
