The UK Gambling Commission published on Tuesday further data showing how the further tightening of Covid-19 lockdown measures has impacted online gambling behavior in Great Britain.
The data reflects the period between March and December, inclusive, and covers both online and (where relevant) some offline gambling operator data, noting that December again saw the closure of all land-based premises.
The latest online operator data for December shows:
Activity in the online market grew in a traditionally busy period, with a month-on-month increase of 6% in active accounts and 12% in bets, while gross gambling yield (GGY), increased by 30% as a result of the return of strong margins for operators in real event betting and GGY growth and player number increases in other verticals such as slots.
Slots GGY increased by 13% to nearly £200m. The number of bets also increased (12% to almost 6 billion) along with the number of active accounts (up 6% to almost 3 million), both of which are the highest from within the Covid-19 pandemic period.
The number of online slots sessions lasting longer than an hour increased by 11% (to 2.5 million) in November to December. The average session length decreased slightly to 21.5 minutes with around 8% of all sessions lasting in excess of 1 hour.
Against the background of this data, and the UKGC's experience of the pandemic period so far, extra operator vigilance is needed during the current national lockdown conditions because:
Most people will be spending more time at home and online and many people are likely to be feeling more isolated and vulnerable as a result of the length of the pandemic period, the new restrictions and further uncertainty about their personal or financial circumstances.
"We know that some consumers, such as highly engaged gamblers who play a range of products, are likely to spend more time and money gambling and the fact that sport will continue during this lockdown will mean there are more opportunities for betting customers to gamble," UKGC says. "We know that some people may gamble for the first time. We recently wrote to operators to remind them of the guidance we initially issued in May to online operators and their responsibilities during this challenging period for the country."
The Commission expect them to:
The Commission continues to track Covid-19 related risk by assessing the impact of the strengthened guidance issued to operators, monitoring key data and collecting and publishing this additional data, supporting the industry as land-based premises adjust to changing restrictions, and, where evidence identifies additional risks faced by consumers, taking further action to protect consumers.
Read market update.
Read operator data.