UKGC Report Says Esports Betting in UK Rose Significantly During Lockdown

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has released a new report which shows the significant growth that esports betting has seen over recent months. The report shows a massive 2992% year-on-year increase in esports betting.

The figures show that while other sectors of the gambling industry have struggled during the pandemic, esports betting has risen significantly. In March 2019, the gross gambling yield for esports betting was just £50,223 ($63,493). 12 months later, in March 2020, when the pandemic was just taking a hold in Europe, that had risen to £1,517,548 ($1,918,541). In April 2020, that then rose further to £3,393,637 ($4,289,767) and increased yet again in May 2020 to £4,616,610 ($5,835,764).

The year-on-year increase from March 2019 to March 2020 was a rise of 2922%, showing that even before the pandemic took hold, esports betting in the UK was a rapidly expanding market. Even then, the increase from March 2020 to April 2020 was still a massive 124% increase in a single month, showing how popular esports betting while traditional sporting events were unable to take place.