UK Gambling Commission Posted Latest Quarterly Operator Data

The Gambling Commission published the latest data related to its ongoing effort to monitor changes in gambling behavior as a result of the current environmental factors in the UK.

Quarterly Gambling Data

Tracking gambling data on a quarterly basis since March 2020, the Commission published data gathered from online and in-person operations at Licensed Betting Operators (LBOs) found on Britain’s high streets for the three months ended June 30, 2022.

Data revealed that the total Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) from online operations for the quarter reached £1.2 billion ($1.45 billion) and registered an increase of 1% when compared to the previous quarter ended March 31, 2022. There was an increase of 5% in the overall number of total bets/spins and the average monthly active accounts also increased by 5%.

GGY from slot operations almost reached £565 million ($681 million) to increase by 4% when compared to the previous quarter. Similarly, the number of spins increased by 5% to 18.7 million and the average monthly active accounts posted an increase of 4% to 3.6 million per month.

A 5% increase, to 8.4 million, was also registered in the number of online slot sessions which lasted longer than an hour and those sessions represented approximately 7% of the total. The average session length in the reported quarter decreased by a minute to 17 minutes in comparison to the previous three months.

LBO GGY in the three months was £584 million to post an increase of 6% as compared to the previous quarter, while the number of total bets and spins reached 3.3 billion and registered an increase of 3%.

The Gambling Commission reminded all users of the data to exercise caution when making comparisons between different quarters of the period due to differing operating circumstances between 2020 and 2022 and the impact on data from free bets and bonuses.

Reminder to Operators

The regulator also reminded operators of their obligations, the “strengthened guidance issued during the first lockdown” to monitor data and identify whether consumers expand their portfolio of games and spend more time or money than before, engage in direct interaction when triggers are reached, avoid any temptation to profit from the situation and cross-sell excessively, and consider the current environment when on-boarding new customers and decide upon their affordability checks.

The Gambling Commission reiterated its stance to continue to track market-related risk by assessing the effect of the strengthened guidance to operators, monitoring, collecting, and publishing key data in which additional risks to consumers are identified, ready to act when needed and strengthen regulatory requirements, introduce changes to Remote Technical Standards (RTS) and Licence Conditions and Code of Practice (LCCP), as well as conduct compliance assessments.