British Gambling Commission reports full-year deficit of £25m
The regulator’s National Lottery tender cost it £23m.
UK.- The British Gambling Commission has published its Annual Report and Accounts for the period from April 2021 to March 2022. It reported income of £20.1m for the 12 months, but outgoings of £45m, leading to a £25m deficit.
Outgoings were up from £38m in 2020-21, largely due to the £23m cost of its National Lottery tender. Employee costs reached £19.17m, a drop of £2m year-on-year. Employee costs for gambling regulation were £13.8m, while National Lottery regulation employee costs were £5.36m. Licence fees charged to gaming operators provided the majority of income at £18m.
The regulator said it had made progress on priority areas of its three-year corporate strategy, most notably in the area of compliance. Tougher guidance on online gambling led the regulator to fine gaming operators a total of £26m in the period (this was before its record £17m fine against Entain last month).
It said it had improved its monitoring of online gambling operators and consumer activities through its quarterly breakdown of industry data.
The Gambling Commission said: “Our risk-based and evidence-led approach to regulation continues and we have continued to develop our teams within the Commission to ensure that we have the right foundations to regulate effectively and ensure high standards are maintained by all operators who are licensed by us.”
“We continue to set the direction for others in the industry to follow as we work to ensure gambling is safe, fair, free from crime and free from the risks of money laundering.”
CEO Andrew Rhodes said: “We would like to say thank you to the hugely committed and professional team across the Commission for their ongoing work and achievements over the past financial year.
“Overall, against a testing and fast-paced background, everyone across the Commission has performed exceptionally this year to ensure our tight regulation has been improved and communicated. We look forward to further success in the coming year.”
British gambling in numbers
The Gambling Commission reported that as of April 2022, there were 156 land-based casinos, 7,683 betting shops, 648 bingo halls, 1,640 gaming arcades, and 186,832 gaming machines operating in Britain.
Monthly participation in gambling (all verticals) stood at approximately two-fifths of the adult population at 22.5m. Of those, around 13.4m have gambled online (9.5m when removing National Lottery sales).
It cited Health Survey for England problem gambling estimates of between 160,000 and 340,000 adults in England, with a further 270,000 to 480,000 adults classed as moderate risk. However, it said that the issue was difficult to estimate.
See also: Gambling Commission delays ban on marketing to at-risk players
