British online betting revenue up 29% in November
The growth was driven by the best sports betting performance since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
UK.- Online gross gambling yield in Great Britain grew by 29 per cent month-on-month to £524m in November thanks to a strong recovery in sports betting.
The regulator, the Gambling Commission, has reported that sports betting revenue from operators accounting for 80 per cent of the market reached £290.1m (€319.8m).
The number of active online players increased by 7 per cent month-on-month while the number of bets placed increased by 12 per cent.
A number of unexpected results in fixtures also helped the growth in revenue, including defending English Premier League champions Liverpool’s shock 7-2 loss to Aston Villa.
In online slots, a return of lockdown measures saw revenue rise 10 per cent month-over-month to £172.5m, the highest total since May.
The number of active accounts hit 2.8m, which is the highest seen since the Gambling Commission began publishing monthly reports at the beginning of the pandemic.
The number of online slot sessions increased by 12 per cent to 27m. The number of sessions lasting more than an hour increased by the same proportion, reaching 2.2m.
In other verticals, online casino revenue rose 11 per cent to £362.7m, virtual sports betting rose 9 per cent to £6.6m and online poker revenue increased by 5 per cent to £8.3m.
Only online esports betting saw a fall, down 39 per cent to £795,705, its lowest total since the beginning of the pandemic.
Gross gambling yield for land-based gambling also reached its highest point since the pandemic began, up 3 per cent month-on-month to £74.5m.
Revenue from service betting terminals reached a high of £41.2m, up 49 per cent month-on-month. Machine yield also reached a high, up 2 per cent to £88.5m.
Senior British MP Iain Duncan Smith has recently called for the Gambling Commission to be abolished under the government’s new review of gambling legislation.
