The Gambling Commission survey shows how British betting habits have changed during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

UK.- The Gambling Commission has published the results of a new survey that shows how British betting habits have changed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The results show a rise in esports betting and a slow down in the growth of mobile betting. 

The study, carried out last year with a sample of 8,000 people, shows that Covid-19 led to changes in where people placed bets. Of those surveyed, 96 per cent placed bets at home.

The percentage of bettors who placed bets while commuting fell from 12 per cent to 10 per cent, while the proportion who bet at places of work fell from 15 per cent to 11 per cent.

Betting figures by device 

Mobile devices were the most popular way to bet but their use remained level with figures reported in 2019. Some 50.3 per cent of respondents said they bet via a mobile device, which breaks with a trend of steep year-on-year increases. 

Mobile betting was most popular for betting on football, with 62.8 per cent of those who bet on football saying they used their phone to do so. Mobile was particularly popular for in-play betting on all sports (74 per cent).

It was least popular for lottery (43.5 per cent for National Lottery and 34.2 per cent for charitable lotteries). The most frequent mobile bettors were those in the 18-24 and 25-34 age groups. The least frequent were those in the 65+ demographic, of which only 14.2 per cent used mobile to bet.

Betting via laptops had declined steeply in previous years, but their use actually increased in 2020, with 40.1 per cent of respondents betting via laptops. Its popularity was similar across all age groups. It was particularly popular for betting on non-sporting, real-world events.

The previous decline in the use of desktop PCs was also halted, with 26.1 per cent of respondents using them to bet. They were particularly popular for over 65s. 

Esports betting and in-play betting 

The percentage of players who reported having placed at least one bet on esports increased from 6 per cent in 2019 respondents to 9.2 per cent in 2020. Some 7.1 per cent said they had placed a real-money bet on esports, while 7.2 per cent said they had placed a skin bet.

The survey also highlighted the continued popularity of in-play sports betting. It found that 30.3 per cent of respondents had made an in-play sports bet in the past week and 60.3 per cent in the past four weeks before taking the survey.

The number of gambling accounts

There was a slight increase in the average number of gambling accounts per customer – up from 3.0 to 3.2. Some 42.6 per cent reported having only one account, while 24 per cent had two and 4.5 per cent had ten or more. Younger players tended to have more accounts, with 6.8 per cent of those in the 18-24 age range having ten or more.

The Gambling Commission has reported that operators representing 80 per cent of the British market generated £560.2m in April, up 2.6 per cent from March.

The figure is the second-highest monthly total for online gross gambling yield (GGY) since the Gambling Commission began publishing monthly data at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last year. The month with the highest revenue reported to date was December 2020.

Gambling Commission appoints Andrew Rhodes as interim chief executive

Andrew Rhodes will serve as interim chief executive of the Gambling Commission for 18 months while the British gambling regulator looks for a candidate to fill the role on a permanent basis.

The appointment comes after former chief executive Neil McArthur made the surprise announcement of his immediate resignation from the post in March.

The Gambling Commission’s deputy chief executive Sarah Gardner and chief operating officer Sally Jones have been joint acting chief executives since then.