UKGC: Latest Industry Statistics

The UK Gambling Commission publishes the gambling industry statistics twice per year, providing all the latest information on every sector they regulate. The latest version includes statistics for the period from April 2016 to March 2017:

These are the headline findings:

• £13.7bn - total Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) of the Great Britain gambling industry (Apr 2016 – Mar 2017) (1.8% increase from Apr 2015 – Mar 2016)
• 106,236 - number of employees in the Great Britain gambling industry (Mar 2017) (1% decrease from Mar 2016)
• 8,502 - number of betting shops in Great Britain (Sep 2017) (3.9% decrease from Mar 2017)
• 583 - number of bingo premises in Great Britain (Sep 2017) (1.4% decrease from Mar 2017)
• 146 - number of casinos in Great Britain (Sep 2017) (1 more than Mar 2017)
• 1,750 - number of licensed arcades in Great Britain (Sep 2017) (5.1% decrease from Mar 2017)
• £4.7bn - Gross Gambling Yield for the remote sector (Apr 2016 – Mar 2017) (10.1% increase from Apr 2015 – Mar 2016)
• 34% - the market share of the remote (online) sector (Apr 2016 – Mar 2017) (1.5% increase from Apr 2015 – Mar 2016)
• 182,916 - number of gaming machines in Great Britain (Apr 2016 – Mar 2017) (1.8% increase from Apr 2015 – Mar 2016) (excludes those requiring only a local authority permit)
• £1.5bn - contributions (to good causes) from The National Lottery (Apr 2016 – Mar 2017) (16.9% decrease from Apr 2015 – Mar 2016)
• £255.6m - contributions to good causes from large society lotteries (Apr 2016 – Mar 2017) (20.5% increase from Apr 2015 – Mar 2016)

Commission Executive Director, Tim Miller said: “These latest figures show that the gambling market is continuing to grow, particularly in the online sector. However, with such growth comes a great responsibility for operators to prevent gambling-related harm to all consumers and the public. We would urge all gambling businesses to be acutely aware that as their market grows so too will our focus on ensuring that consumers are protected.”

If you want to read more about the Commision’s new strategy click here.