The UK Generates a Record-Breaking Sum of Gambling Revenue
The UK’s gambling revenue reaches an all-time high of £15.6 billion for 2024.
Key Facts:
- The UKGC confirms the цоунтръ has generated record-breaking gambling revenue
- The country made £15.6 billion from gambling from April 2023 to March 2024
- This is an increase of 3.5% from April 2022 to March 2023
Figures released by the UKGC show that the UK’s gambling revenue is higher than ever. For the period April 2023 to March 2024, a total of £15.6 billion in revenue from gambling was logged. This is an increase of 3.6% from the same period in 2022-23.
TechNavio, a market research company predicts that the growth of the UK’s Gross Gambling Yield is only going to continue increasing over the next few years. In fact, it estimates that in 2029, the Gross Gambling Yield will be approximately £18.3 billion.
Different Gambling Sectors and Their Contributions
The sum of £15.6 billion provided by the UKGC is broken down into several key sectors, which are as follows:
- Online casino gaming: 27.9%, £4.358 billion
- The National Lottery: 21.3%, £8.184 billion (this is pure sales, not Gross Gambling Yield)
- Sports betting (both in shops and on courses): 15.9%, £2.49 billion
- Online sports betting: 15.2%, £2.37 billion
- Land-based casino gaming: 5.5%, £866 million
- Other lotteries: 4.8%, £1.05 billion (this is pure sales, not Gross Gambling Yield)
- Land-based arcades: 4.2%, £664 million
- Land-based bingo: 4%, £628 million
- Online bingo: 1.1%, £167 million
All sectors listed above experienced growth compared with the April 2023 to March 2024 period. The increase in online gambling continues to impact land-based venues and the companies that operate them significantly.
Physical Gambling Venues Continue to Face Challenges
Online gambling keeps becoming more widespread thanks to its convenience and the huge amount of gambling opportunities available on the internet. While casinos, betting shops and other venues continue attracting customers, some still struggle.
In fact, from March 2023 to April 2024, the number of gambling premises dropped by 0.8% to 8,329. This may not be a large percentage, but it still represents dozens of venues and hundreds of jobs.
Most of these (71.2%) were betting shops, with the others including adult gaming centres (17.2%), bingo halls (7.6%), family entertainment centres (2.1%) and casinos (1.7%). Many of those who are still in business have felt the impact of online gambling.
As for the number of licensed operators in the UK, by the end of March 2024, there were 2,262 of them, which was a drop of 85 (3.6%) compared to April 2022 to March 2023. There are roughly 1,000 fewer licensed operators than there were in 2010.
The UK’s Gambling Future
It looks likely that online gambling will continue to thrive in the UK. With new online casinos and sportsbooks launching regularly and new games constantly coming out, the number of opportunities for internet-based gambling is huge.
Online gambling might grow faster than its real-world counterpart, but it is virtually guaranteed that the gambling sector will continue to earn record-breaking revenue. What helps this greatly is the fact that the UK’s gambling industry is heavily regulated.
There’s also the issue of taxation. Simply put, gambling winnings aren’t taxed because they’re considered to have been obtained through work, not luck. This makes gambling all the more appealing, as anything you win is yours to keep in full.
New features and enhancements such as virtual reality, cryptocurrency and 5G will continue to improve the online gambling experience and make it possible for people to gamble on the internet in more ways.
There’s every chance that the prediction made by TechNavio will come true and that the UK will generate £18.3 billion or even more from gambling by 2029. So long as the UKGC continues to regulate the industry, fewer people should come to any type of harm.
