The UK gambling regulatory body has once again published information regarding the changes in Brits’ gambling behaviour linked to the easing of the Government’s coronavirus lockdown measures and the current environmental factors in the country.
The watchdog has noted that such data will be published on a quarterly basis, and so will be the analysis. The latest update in the information about local residents’ gambling behaviour refers to the quarters in the financial year 2021/2022.
The operator data provided by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) covers the period from March 2020 to March 2022. Furthermore, the data compiled by the UK high-street licensed betting operators (LBOs) covers both in-person and online gambling of local residents.
The gambling industry watchdog has warned that any year-on-year comparisons between some months during the aforementioned period of the data collection should be made with caution because operating circumstances in the 2-year period between 2020 and 2022 differed. The UKGC also noted that such a comparison should not be made with the industry statistics dataset, because free bets and bonuses may be included in some market impact data.
Many Brits Still Feeling Negative Effects of Lengthy Coronavirus Measures
According to the data published by the UK Gambling Commission on May 18th, the overall gross gaming yield (GGY) generated online in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2021/2021 – from January to March 2022 – amounted to £1.2 billion. The figure represented a 1% decline from the previous quarter that covers the period from October to December 2021. There was also a 2% decline in the overall number of total bets or spins in Q4 from the previous quarter, while the average number of monthly active customer accounts rose by 5%.
The gross gaming yield generated by slot games fell by 5% to approximately £541 million in the period between the third and the fourth quarter. The UKGC also reported there was a 2% decline in the number of spins to 17.9 billion, while the average monthly active users rose by 5% to 3 million every month.
The gambling industry watchdog further revealed that the number of online slots sessions that lasted for more than an hour fell by 2% to 7.9 million between the last two quarters of the financial 2021/2022 year. The average session lasted 18 minutes, with about 7% of the overall number of sessions lasting more than an hour.
According to data published by the UK Gambling Commission, the gross gaming yield generated by local licensed betting operators rose by 3%, reaching £551 million between the third and fourth quarter, while the overall number of bets placed and spins made by British customers fell to 3.2 billion.
The gambling watchdog noted that the UK is now entering a different phase, considering the fact that it still adjusts to post-Covid-19 restrictions. The UKGC explained that extra vigilance from local gambling companies is still being expected because British customers are affected by the circumstances linked to the coronavirus pandemic and the wider economic environment in different ways. A large number of people is likely to still feel vulnerable because of the lengthy social isolation periods that eventually resulted in further uncertainty about their personal or financial circumstances.
- Author
Daniel Williams
