UK Online Gambling Numbers Up

Annual online gambling games statistics were released by the UK Gambling Commission this week, revealing that 2016 saw online wagers were up 32% from the year prior. The gambling yield of £13.8 billion ($17.9 billion) for the twelve months from October of 2016.

The nearly 3% increase from the previous reporting period came as a result of an over 7% swell in gross gambling yield from the remote sector to £4.5 billion ($5.8 billion) while the 34,388 land-based fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBT) saw their tally reach £1.8 billion ($2.3 billion).

The figures additionally show that the United Kingdom had an average of 176,410 non-FOBT gambling machines, which represented a decline of some 0.2% from the previous reporting period, although these saw their gross annual yield rise by 2.5% to hit £2.7 billion ($3.5 billion).

However, the figures from the Gambling Commission also indicate that the total number of people employed in the industry dropped by 0.4% from the previous reporting period to 106,678 while the National Lottery’s annual contributions to charitable good causes decreased by 5.7% to £1.7 billion ($2.2 billion).

There was moreover a drop in the number of betting shops in the nation to 8,788, which represented a deterioration of 1.4%, alongside a 5.7% slump in the total number of bingo parlors to 583 while the country had one less casino than in the previous reporting period at 147.

Finally, the Gambling Commission figures show that sportsbetting generated a gross annual yield of £1.6 billion ($2.1 billion) while the figure for table games and gaming machines reached £1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) with bingo generating £682.3 million ($884.2 million).

In related news, the Gambling Commission has revealed that David Pemberton will be joining its ranks at the end of June to serve as its Chief Operating Officer and oversee all of the regulator’s corporate services including human resources, finance, planning, and risk.

Previously Executive Director for business-community outreach charity Business in the Community, Pemberton has additionally held roles in the past with Credit Suisse, PwC, Nissan, and Ford.

“I’m very pleased to be joining the Gambling Commission,” read a statement from Pemberton. “I am looking forward to contributing my experience to help shape the organization’s skills, capabilities, structure and ways of working. This is an exciting time to join the [Gambling] Commission as it increasingly focuses on putting the consumer at the heart of its work and I welcome the opportunity to play my part in that important work.”

There were fears that online betting would suffer in the UK thanks to a point of consumption tax that was placed on operators offering their services in the country. Thus far it appears that such concerns have not come to fruition, although a long-term analysis will be needed to accurately gauge its full impact.