British online gaming yield hits new high
The Gambling Commission has reported that online gross gaming yield reached £6.85bn for the 2020-21 financial year.
UK.- The British regulator, the Gambling Commission, has reported that British remote gross gaming yield (GGY) totalled £6.85bn for the twelve months ending March 31, 2021.
That’s a record annual high, with turnover up 18.1 per cent year-on-year at £141.38bn.
Online casino generated gross gaming yield of £4.02bn, up 26.4 per cent. The majority of that was generated by slots, up 22.2 per cent to £2.91bn.
Online betting revenue rose 13.6 per cent to £2.65bn, with £2.48bn from sportsbooks, £135.7m from betting exchanges (down 16 per cent) and £27.2m from pool betting. Online bingo revenue rose 7.5% to £189.1m.
There were 32 million active player accounts during the year, and £893.8m was held in player accounts at the end of the period.
The number of licensed operators fell by 5.4 per cent to 2,439 due to a decline in the number of land-based licensees.
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In the 12 months, the last half saw the highest revenue with £1.87bn in the last three months of 2020 and £1.85bn in the first three of 2021.
Online casino generated more than £1bn in each of these quarters. The number of land-based gaming premises fell by 6.2 per cent to 10,128.
The Gambling Commission did not provide annual data for land-based gaming due to the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns and late returns.
The only exception was the National Lottery, which saw combined retail and online sales reach £8.39bn, an increase of 6 per cent year-on-year. The majority (£4.87bn) still came from retail sales, but online sales generated £3.52bn.
See also: UK government to hold first National Lottery committee hearing
