UK online and land-based gaming yield rises in Q4

The Gambling Commission has reported a 5 per cent rise in online gambling yield.

UK.- The Gambling Commission has reported an increase in both online and land-based gross gambling yield (GGY) in the fourth quarter of the last financial year. Online GGY rose by 5 per cent year-on-year to £1.30bn and land-based GGY 6 per cent to to £585m.

There was a rise in real event betting and slots revenue, with monthly bets, spins and average monthly active accounts all up year-on-year in three months from January to March 2023. Online real event betting rose by almost 13 per cent to £555m. The number of bets was up by 19 per cent year-on-year, likely helped by a combination of the Cheltenham Festival and player retention after the Fifa World Cup at the end of 2022.

Online slots GGY was up 2 per cent at £525m. There were 19.5bn spins, up by 9 per cent, and 3.9m active accounts, up 15 per cent. Online casino GGY fell by 4 per cent to £153m, virtual betting by 3 per cent to £12m and online poker by 7 per cent to £18m. Esports betting remained flat at £2m.

Within land-based gambling, machine GGY was up 5 per cent at £292m, and the average spend per session rose to £12.26. The average spins per machine session was 131, and 3 per cent of machine sessions lasted for over an hour.

Meanwhile, self-service betting terminal revenue rose 28 per cent to £125m on the back of a 28 per cent rise in the number of bets placed on them to 37m bets. Counter bet GGY fell 5 per cent, likely as a result of the increase in the use of self-service terminals. The number of over-the-counter bets fell by 4 per cent to 138m.

Last month, The Gambling Commission slapped a £490,000 penalty on PPB Counterparty Services Limited, which trades as Paddy Power and Betfair. The sanction is for sending promotional push notifications to devices linked to customers who had self-excluded.

The offence dates back to November 21, 2021, when the operator’s app distributed an offer of enhanced odds for bets on an English Premier League football match to devices either linked to accounts that were GAMSTOP registered or devices linked to accounts that were self-excluded with the licensee.

See also: MGA discusses collaboration with Britain’s Gambling Commission