Operator News

UK – Land-based gambling operating above pre-pandemic levels

By Phil - 4 December 2023

Land-based gaming has boomed by 20 per cent in the UK over the last year with revenue levels now surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

The Gambling Commission’s Gambling Industry Statistics showed that total gross gambling yield (GGY) had increased by 6.8 per cent year-on-year to £15.1bn for the 12 months from April 2022 to March 2023. This marked an increase of 6.6 per cent on the last pre-lockdown figures to March 2020. Gaming machines showed a 23 per cent increase on April 2021 to March 2022 and a 17.9 per cent increase on the last pre-lockdown period of April 2019 to March 2020.

Retail betting GGY was £2.5bn, a 15.4 per cent increase on the previous period and a 2.5 per cent increase on the latest pre-lockdown period. Within off-course data, machines GGY increased by 15.9 per cent to £1.2 billion during the last period which is also an increase of 15.2% from the latest pre-lockdown period. Machines represented 50.1 per cent of total GGY in the non-remote betting sector. Total numbers of betting premises have continued to decline for the ninth consecutive reporting period to 5,995. That’s a decrease of 186 (2.2 per cent) on the previous period and 1,386 (18.1 per cent) on the pre-lockdown period).

The land-based casino sector saw a £118.6m increase of 17.2 per cent in GGY to £810.4m with table games accounting for £609m & casino machines generating £201.4m for this last reporting period. This is a decrease of £207.2m (20.4 per cent in GGY from the last pre-lockdown period.

Land-based bingo GGY was £591.8m, a 34 per cent increase on the previous period and of £15.5m (2.7 per cent) on the last pre-lockdown period. GGY is £227.1m for bingo games and £364.7m for bingo machines for this latest reporting period.

Non-remote arcades GGY was £572.2m, a 38.9 per cent increase on the previous period and of £141.2m (32.8 per cent) on the last pre-lockdown period. GGY is £533.3m (up 40.8 per cent) for adult gaming centres and £38.8m (up 16.3 per cent) for family entertainment centres for this latest reporting period. Note that this data does not include family entertainment centres which operate using a permit from a local authority.

Online casino games continued to dominate the remote sector, generating £4bn in GGY, £3.2bn of which was from slots games. GGY for remote betting totalled £2.3bn, led by football (£1.1bn) and horse betting (£733.5m). GGY for remote bingo totalled £173.6m.

This reporting period saw an increase in the number of new account registrations with RCBB operators (up 10.6 per cent to 36.4m), in comparison to the latest pre-lockdown period, there is an increase by 21.8 per cent. The number of active accounts went up four per cent to 36.4m and 21 per cent from pre-lockdown. The total funds held in customer accounts was at £877.5m at the end of the reporting period. This is a 3.6 per cent decrease on the previous period end and a 26.7% increase on the last pre-lockdown period end.

Lotteries

The National Lottery ticket sales totalled £8.2 billion (increases of 1.1% on previous year and 3.5% on the last pre-lockdown period), of which £4.7 billion was returned as prizes (increases of 1.8% on previous year and 4.2% on the last pre-lockdown period) and the primary contribution to good causes totalled £1.7 billion (decrease of 0.4% on previous year and 3.0% increase on the last pre-lockdown period).

Large society lotteries ticket sales totalled £943.9 million (increases of 2.6% on previous year and 13.5% on the last pre-lockdown period), of which £261.5 million was returned as prizes (increases of 3.2% on previous year and 19.3% on the last pre-lockdown period) and the primary contribution to good causes totalled £421.7 million (increases of 1.0% on previous year and 14.6% on the last pre-lockdown period).