Online betting and igaming entities have continued to drive growth across the UK, according to new figures released by the Gambling Commission

Publishing its half-yearly gambling industry statistics for the period October 2018 to September 2019, data has shown that remote casinos generated £3.2bn in Gross Gambling Yield, an increase of 3.9 per cent.

This was in stark contrast to its land-based equivalent, which reported a 0.6 per cent drop in GGY to £1.1bn.  GGY for the online betting sector grew by 4.3 per cent to £2.1bn, while remote bingo generated £198m, an increase of 12.5 per cent.

Overall GGY for the industry totalled £14.3bn, a decrease of 0.5 per cent, with the figure dropping further when excluding lottery-type gambling, showing a £10.5bn GGY, a 1.9 per cent decrease.

In contrast to the online sector, the UK’s retail sector continued to struggle, with a number of firms forced to close shops to offset 2019’s FOBT ruling. 

From September 2019 there was a total number of 9,745 gambling premises in the UK, a decrease of 9.6 per cent from March 2019, with the total number of betting shops in the UK being 7,315, a decrease of 12.5 per cent during the same period.

This has also had an impact on employment in the gambling industry with figures showing a 4.4 per cent decrease in the workforce with 98,174 employees working across the sector.

Gaming machines, excluding those which require a local authority permit, generated £2.5bn in GGY, a decrease of 11.8 per cent from April 2018 to March 2019.

Following the FOBT ruling, the GGY for category B2 machines in the UK decreased by almost half, 46.4 per cent, from April 2019 to March 2019. Yet B3 machines generated £1.3bn in GGY between October 2018 and September 2019, an increase of 18.5 per cent.

The data revealed by the UKGC also highlighted that £1.6bn was contributed by The National Lottery to good causes, an increase of 6.5 per cent from April 2018 to March 2019, and £345m contribution from large society lotteries during the same period, an increase of 3.7 per cent.