Report Reveals Shifts in Gambling Behaviour in GB: Q4 2022-2023 Operator Data

The Gambling Commission has disseminated updated data elucidating the evolution of gambling behaviour in Great Britain, in response to current environmental factors. This data, which covers the period between March 2020 and March 2023, originates from both online and physical Licensed Betting Operators (LBOs) across the nation.

It is important to note that direct comparisons with the industry statistics dataset should be avoided, as this data may incorporate free bets and bonuses and does not represent all operators.

This latest release examines changes in the market from the fourth quarter (Q4) of the 2022-2023 financial year compared to Q4 of the 2021-2022 financial year.

The key findings from the operator data reveal that(1):

• Online total Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) for Q4 (January to March) rose by 5 percent to £1.3 billion compared to the same period in the previous year. Concurrently, the total number of bets and/or spins surged by 9 percent, while the average monthly active accounts expanded by 11 percent (2).
• The reporting period encapsulated the Cheltenham festival, which saw the real event betting GGY escalate by 13 percent to £555 million year-on-year. In the same category, total bets and active accounts increased by 19 percent and 9 percent respectively.
• Slot GGY experienced a 2 percent boost to £552 million between Q4 2021-2022 and Q4 2022-2023, while the number of spins amplified by 9 percent. Average monthly active accounts climbed by 15 percent, resulting in 3.9 million accounts per month during the period.
• The quantity of online slot sessions extending beyond an hour grew by 10 percent to 8.8 million year-on-year. The average session length remained at 17 minutes for the fourth consecutive quarter, with roughly 6.4 percent of all sessions exceeding one hour.
• LBO GGY witnessed a 6 percent growth to nearly £585 million in Q4 2022-2023 compared to the corresponding quarter the previous year. Simultaneously, the number of total bets and spins increased by 2 percent to 3.3 billion.

This data provides valuable insights for operators and stakeholders in the iGaming industry, offering a comprehensive understanding of how the market is adapting and evolving over time.

(1) The Gambling Commission are currently investigating the categorisation of certain products. This may result in the changing of some data between verticals, however this should have no impact on the overall totals.

(2) This is the total number of times activity has taken place across all verticals; therefore, an active account may be counted more than once if they participate in more than one vertical. Additionally, a quarter-on-quarter comparison means that there is further degree of double counting in the active accounts’ data-point. For example, if an account has been active in two of the three months in that quarter, it will be counted twice in the total for that quarter. This is only applicable to active accounts and not any of the other data-points.