The “Great UK Gambling” Spend

As the US prepares for one of or if not the biggest celebration of the year Thanksgiving on Thursday 26^th November, many companies outside the US which is still the world’s largest gambling market generally take a day off to, and so does the news services.

To this the iGaming Post decided to look at the UK market regarding gambling and see if the numbers may tell us what 2021 may hold and also if there are any opportunities for entrepreneurs that businesses have not picked up on.

In statistics released this year by both the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) and the Office of National Statistics (ONS) regarding UK gambling, let us see if there is anything that offers opportunities.

Here are some general numbers first on gambling in the UK:

• 47% of Brits have gambled in some form or another in the past 4 weeks.
• The most popular form of gambling is of course the National Lottery with 30% of the nation having a go at least once in the last twelve months.
• The National Lottery has contributed £1.6 billion to good causes over the 2018/2019 year.
• Each person in the UK on average spends £2.60 per week on some form of gambling, that totals up to £135.20 per year.
• According to figures by the UKGC the gambling industry in 2019 was worth £14.3 billion
• In total there are 98,174 people employed by the entire gambling industry in the UK, that figure has gone down over recent months from 106,000. Much to do with betting office closures, casino and bingo closures and re-organising of manpower.

Peoples Activity:

When you split the sexes you find that men gamble more regularly than women within a 4 week space, with men at 51% and women 41%.

20% of all Brits say they have gambled twice or more per week.

So what are Brits betting on?

As we stated National Lottery wins, but what else:

• Other lotteries 12.7%
• Scratchcards 9.9%
• Sports betting 6.7%
• Private betting 5.6%
• Slot Machines 4.2%
• Horse Racing 4%
• Casino Games 1.5%
• Poker games at a club/pub 0.5%
• Spread Betting 0.3%

As the numbers show Camelot the operators of the National Lottery really do sweep up a lot of gambling spend in the UK with the lottery and scratchcards taking a combined spend 42.3%.

No wonder Sazka the giant European lottery operator is looking at applying for the UK National Lottery replacing Camelot when the next round of licensing comes.

Sports betting is second but interestingly “private betting” is right behind sports betting on 5.6%. Now who would like to know what those people are gambling on, well mostly private poker games, unlicensed mahjong gambling and casino games. Since the UKGC introduced stronger money laundering controls on gambling operators the “private gambling” percentage has gone up and up.

Previously the number 7 years ago stood at 1.2% in private gambling, indeed operators have warned of the increased in unregulated gambling because of the stricter rules towards money laundering and proof of funds.

Everything else on the list is pretty much as you would expect, however poker games in pubs and clubs is doing well at 0.5%, surely some entrepreneurs will be considering how best to maximise that area.