British gambling revenue continues to fall

New figures from the Gambling Commission show that the decline across verticals continued in August.

UK.- Figures released by the British Gambling Commission reveal that the decline seen in July across most regulated gambling verticals continued into the next month.

The latest figures, which comprise numbers from 80 per cent of the market, show a drop in gross gambling yield and in participation among customers for the month of August. 

Sports betting yield dropped 21.4 per cent month-on-month to £164.4m, which could be expected due to European football’s short break for the summer, but the decline continued across almost all other verticals as lockdown measures were relaxed in the UK.

Only slots saw marginal monthly growth in revenue, up 0.8 per cent to £164.1m. Casino games generated £59.5m, a drop of 9.9 per cent and poker generated £8.3m, down by 7.5 per cent on July and down 58.4 per cent against April when the vertical saw a brief surge at the height of lockdown.

Betting on virtual sports has also lost the ground it made at the height of the UK’s lockdown. It generated £6.7m, down 16.1 per cent month-on-month, and down 47.9 per cent since April.

Betting on esports generated £1.8m, down 29.5 per cent month-on-month.

The decline across verticals follows a trend that began in July.

In August, the number of active players also dropped across online verticals. Online betting customers dropped 9.7 per cent to 3.8 million, while active slot players dropped by 2.1 per cent to 2.4 million. 

In the land-based sector, gaming machine revenue fell 2.1 per cent month-on-month, bringing in £79.9m – more than land-based sports betting.

Only over-the-counter betting was up, rising 13.9 per cent. Revenue from self-service betting terminals dropped 29.3 per cent to £16.4m.