Data published yesterday (6 February) by the Great Britain Gambling Commission covers the three months to 31 December 2024. It primarily covers online gambling but also references GGY and activity in the land-based betting sector.
The Q4 online GGY figure surpasses the £1.30 billion posted in the same period in the last year. It is also 16.7% ahead of £1.32 billion in the third quarter of last year.
On top of this, overall online bets and spins jumped 8% year-on-year to a record 25.9 billion. However, average monthly active player accounts declined 3% in Q4.
Slots GGY hits £709 million
Slots remain the primary source of GGY in Britain. During Q4, online slots GGY reached £709 million, an increase of 15%. Total spins were also 9% higher at 23.9 billion while average monthly active accounts increased 10%.
The data represents records for both online slots GGY and number of spins. However, the Commission noted that one operator re-classified some of its products into the slot vertical during Q4. As such, and as was the case in Q2, this impacted comparisons with the previous year.
In terms of session length, the average across online slots in Q4 was slightly higher than last year at approximately 18 minutes. The number of sessions over one hour stood at 6%, down from 7% in Q4 of the previous year.
Real event betting GGY jumps 38%
As for other areas of the online market, real event betting was the next highest source of GGY during the three-month period, drawing £647 million. This is 38% ahead of the previous year and the highest quarterly total since Q2 of 2021.
The Commission said this was despite the number of bets across real events falling by 7% and average monthly active accounts being 3% lower year-on-year.
Other gaming GGY, including online casino other than slots, edged up 2% to £151.9 million in Q4. However, online poker GGY declined 19% to £12.7 million.
Virtual betting GGY slipped 14% to £9.5 million and esports betting GGY was down 12% to £3.7 million. GGY from other online gambling, the details of which was not disclosed, was up 58% to £1.9 million.
What about LBOs?
The Commission also revealed some information about land-based activity for Q4, namely on licensed betting operators (LBOs). LBO GGY increased by 5% to £592 million, despite the number of total bets and spins falling 4% to 3.1 billion.
Of all GGY in this sector, £279.7 million came from gaming machines, £159.8 million over-the counter activity, and £152.6 million self-service betting terminals.
In terms of the number of machine sessions, the total for Q4 was down 4% at 22.8 million. However, the number of sessions lasting more than one hour was 6% higher at 621,772.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/finance/britain-online-ggy-q4-record-activity/
