UKGC Data Shows British Gambling Participation Falls in June

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has published further data showing how online gambling behaviour is reacting to the easing of lockdown measures in Great Britain.

The data reflects the period between March 2020 and June 2021, inclusive, and covers both online and, where relevant, some offline gambling operator data, noting that land-based premises have only recently been able to open since closing in December. Overall activity in the online market slowed down in June, with gross gambling yield (GGY) and total bets both decreasing 7% and 10% respectively.

The number of active players increased by 4%, likely to be a result of occasional players’ interest in the Euro 2020 tournament. Slots GGY decreased 14% to £181m during the period from May to June. The number of spins decreased 10% while active players increased by 1%. The number of online slots sessions lasting longer than an hour decreased by 9% (to just above 2.3m). The average session length decreased to 19.3 minutes, with nearly 8% of all sessions lasting more than one hour.

The UKGC said: “We recognise that the country is now entering a different phase as we continue to ease out of lockdown. We continue to expect extra vigilance from operators as consumers are impacted in different ways by the circumstances. Many people will still feel vulnerable as a result of the length of the pandemic period and further uncertainty about their personal or financial circumstances.

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“It is likely some have picked up new gambling routines and habits during lockdown that may be hard to change as things return to normal, even as normal spending on other things resumes. This could be challenging for some and important for operators to identify through their monitoring.

“We know that some consumers, such as highly engaged gamblers who play a range of products, are likely to spend more time and money gambling and with high level sporting events taking place over the summer there are more opportunities for betting customers to gamble.”