Latest UK data suggests recovery in gaming revenue
The Gambling Commission’s latest report on the impact of lockdown on the industry suggests a recovery in May, with a 15.5% increase in revenue.
UK.- The Gambling Commission, the UK regulator, has released an update to its ongoing reports into the impact of lockdown on the sector.
The latest figures appear to show a recovery in May, particularly in sports betting due to the return of Germany’s Bundesliga, but overall activity remained lower than before lockdown as land-based venues remained closed until mid-June.
The report uses data collected by the Commission and polling firm YouGov, which has been surveying activity in various sectors during the pandemic. The latest report covers all of April and May and shows some increase in activity in May compared to April.
The survey found that 68.2 per cent of people asked in the latest poll on June 16 and 17 June claimed not to have gambled in the past four weeks, down from 70.3 per cent from the previous poll conducted in May.
The latest poll found that 1.1 per cent of respondents had increased time spent on gambling – 1.7 per cent said they increased the amount of money they spent and 0.4 per cent said they had started gambling for the first time (17.8 per cent of those on the National Lottery).
Meanwhile, 3.6 per cent said they decreased their gambling while 2.1 per cent had stopped gambling.
The Gambling Commission complemented the YouGov survey with data from a range of operators it says covers around 80 per cent of the UK iGaming market.
It says its study shows that gross gaming yield rose 15.5 per cent between April and May, to £399.6million. GGY from slots increased 9 per cent to £184.3million and other casino games increased 1.2 per cent to £77.9million.
That’s despite a fall in the number of active users, which in May fell 1.2 per cent month-on-month to 14.7 million.
Betting made something of a recovery with the resumption of sporting events such as Germany’s Bundesliga, with the operators that provided data seeing revenue increase by 63.6 per cent from April to reach £101.4million. Esports did well too, with a 36 per cent increase in revenue to £4.6million.
There was no such increase in poker and virtuals, which saw revenue fall by 8.6 per cent and 12 per cent respectively to £18.3million and £11.3million in May.
There was also a fall in the number of customers that spent more than an hour gambling, dropping from 2.3 million in April to 2.1 million in May. The average session time remained at 22 minutes.
The Commission also gathered information about reverse withdrawals, where customers can cancel requests to withdraw funds from their gambling accounts.
