Figures from UKGC Reveal Impact of Corona on the Industry

The UK Gambling Commission has released figures collected from licensed operators between April and September 2020, showing a total gross gambling yield (GGY) of £5.89 billion.

Before releasing the figures for that six-month period, the Commission released its figures for the period from April 2019 to March 2020, showing a GGY of £14.12 billion, suggesting a significant fall year-on-year.

Of that figure, the National Lottery brought in £1.16 billion, online casinos brought in £1.94 billion, and sports betting brought in £1.04 billion and £629.3 million online and offline, respectively. Other lotteries brought in an additional £310.5 million, while online and land-based bingo brought in £98.1 million and £92 million, respectively.

Unsurprisingly, the land-based industry suffered during the period due to coronavirus restrictions. Land-based casinos brought in just £67 million over the six months, compared to £1.02 billion in the full year from April 2019 to March 2020. There was also a sharp drop in retail betting, which fell to £629.3 million compared to £2.41 billion for the previous full-year. Land-based bingo brought in £92 million compared to £575.2 million between April 2019 and March 2020.

However, online gambling had a total GGY of £3.08 billion between April and September 2020, compared to £2.81 billion for the same period in 2019. £1.94 billion came from online casinos, up 22.7% from the previous year. Online sports betting brought in £1.04 billion, which was a fall of 8.8%, largely due to many sports events being cancelled during that period. Online bingo brought in £98.1 million, up 6.2%.

In the six-month period, 15.3 million new online gaming accounts were registered. However, the number of active accounts dropped from 31 million in September 2019 to 30.1 million September 2020. The number of active operators also decreased, from 2,689 in March 2019 to 2,577 in March 2020 and 2,522 in September 2020.

Unsurprisingly, there was a drop in the number of active gaming premises from 10,128 in March 2020 to 9,036 in September. The number of active casinos also fell from 156 to 131 in the same period, and the number of bingo premises fell from 648 to 601.