The UK Gambling Commission has published data showing how gambling behavior is reacting to current environmental factors in Great Britain. The release, which compares Q3 of financial year 2022 to 2023 with Q3 of 2021 to 2022, shows online total Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) in Q3 (October to December) was £1.2 billion ($1.4 billion), a 2% decrease from the previous year.
However, despite the slight GGY decrease, the overall number of total bets and spins increased 8% year-on-year, whilst the average monthly active accounts increased 13%. The data was sourced from operators and reflects the period between March 2020 and December 2022, and covers both online and in-person gambling covering Licensed Betting Operators (LBOs) found on Britain’s high streets.
Slots GGY increased 2% to £582 million ($697.1 million) between Q3 2021 to 2022 and Q3 2022 to 2023. The number of spins increased by 8%, while the average monthly active accounts increased by 13% to 3.7 million per month year-on-year for the quarter.
The number of online slots sessions lasting longer than an hour increased 11% year-on-year for Q3 to top 9 million for the first time in the UKGC’s dataset. The number of total sessions increased by 21% in the equivalent time period, with 6.5% of all sessions lasting in excess of one hour during Q3, the lowest percentage recorded since the regulator started collecting data in March 2020. The average session length decreased by 2 minutes to 17 minutes year-on-year.
Meanwhile, the number of customer interactions in Q3 decreased by 10% to 2.9 million compared to the same period last year, with the majority remaining automated in nature. The number of direct interactions undertaken by operators in the latest dataset has increased by 32% year-on-year.
Meanwhile, Licensed Betting Operators GGY increased 5% to £560 million ($670.8 million) between Q3 2021 to 2022 and Q3 2022 to 2023, while the number of total bets and spins increased 2% to 3.4 billion.
“Comparison should not be made with the industry statistics dataset, as this dataset reported here may include free bets and bonuses, and does not include data from all operators,” warned the regulator, which said it expects vigilance from operators as consumers are impacted in different ways by the current economic environment. “Many people will feel vulnerable as they face further uncertainty about their personal or financial circumstances,” noted the Commission.
Earlier this month, Andrew Rhodes, Chief Executive of the UKGC, denied an explosion in online gambling since the pandemic, stating participation “has not gone through the roof” in recent years. Rhodes’ remarks were part of his speech at the World Regulatory Briefing, delivered within the framework of the ICE London expo (February 7 – 9).
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2023/02/27/66239-ukgc-report-online-ggy-drops-2–but-total-bets-rise-by-8-in-q3
