Online Gambling In UK Has Grown, According To New UKGC Report
Online gambling in the UK has continued to grow according to a new report by the UK Gambling Commission.
The firm, which is responsible for the regulation of brick-and-mortar and online casinos in the United Kingdom, publishes its industry statistics twice a year, in May and November. In its most recent report, the Commission revealed that while gambling overall had taken a dip, there was been an increase in online gambling.
According to the report, the total gross gambling yield of the local gambling industry between October 2017 and September 2018 dropped 0.4% but made a total of £14.5 billion while the total gross gambling yield for online gambling made up around £5.6 billion of the figure, a 2.9% increase from last period.
However, the Commission also found that there had been a 1.4% decrease in the number of people employed in the local gambling industry from March 2018. In addition, the firm revealed that there were a total of 152 brick-and-mortar casinos in the UK by September 2018, one more than in March 2018.
Lastly, the Commission reported that the number of betting shops and bingo venues had also fallen 1.5% and 1.1% between March and September 2018.
What They Say
Ben Haden, the Programme Director for the Industry Insight at the UK Gambling Commission, said in a statement: “Despite the marginal decline across the wider gambling industry, the online gambling sector continues to grow. Our role as regulator will continue to see us working to raise standards right across the industry.
“Following our comprehensive review of the online gambling sector in 2018, this year we have implemented new rules to strengthen age and ID verification checks and we’ve also been working with partners in financial institutions to develop the role they can play to protect valuable consumers.”
He continued: “Last month we published the new national strategy to reduce gambling harms which has a renewed focus on plans to widen research, take a preventative approach to reduce gambling harms, assess treatment provision, embed a culture of evaluation, and encourage industry to collaborate to make gambling safer.”
The news comes as the UK Gambling Commission and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) both tighten rules surrounding gambling. Just last month, the Commission adopted new rules which required casino operators to verify customers immediately after registering.