UKGC Figures Suggest Marked Decline in GGY Due to Pandemic
The British Gambling Commission has revealed that the jurisdiction achieved a gross gambling yield (GGY) of £5.89bn (US$8.34bn/€6.86bn) in the six months from April – September 2020.
Compared to the previous full-year results, in which the GC reported a GGY of £14.12bn between April 2019 and March 2020, it looks as though Covid-19 has sparked a significant year-on-year decline.
The latest figures reveal that online casino was the largest vertical by yield, with £1.94bn. That was followed by sports betting, which saw a GGY of £1.04bn online and £629.3m from its land-based component.
The National Lottery brought in £1.61bn, while other lotteries, both online and land-based, raised a further £310.5m. Online and land-based bingo was responsible for £98.1m and £92m respectively.
Unsurprisingly, it was the land-based gambling sector that suffered the most from the effects of the pandemic.
Land-based casinos brought in just £67m over the period, against £1.02bn during the full year between April 2019 and March 2020.
There was also a marked decline in retail betting at £629.3m, compared to £2.41bn for the full year before.
However, there was growth online. The CG reported a GGY of £3.08bn between April and September 2020, compared to £2.81bn for the same period in 2019, which equates to a 9.6 per cent increase.
The online casino sector was responsible for the majority of that, at £1.94bn, an increase of 22.7 per cent from the same period in 2019.
Meanwhile, online betting brought in £1.04bn, a fall of 8.8 per cent, due to cancellation or postponement of sporting events during lockdowns.
The GC revealed that 15.3m new online gaming accounts were registered during the period, however, the overall number of active accounts decreased fractionally from 31m in September 2019 to 30.7m in September 2020.
The number of active operators fell from 2,689 in March 2019, to 2,577 in March 2020 and 2,522 as of September 2020.
The number of operators offering multiple activities also fell a little from 381 to 379.
