Online Gaming dominates the gaming industry in the United Kingdom, according to the latest data revealed by the national gambling authority.
The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) released its twelve-month review of the country's industry.
According to the report, which covers the period from April 2016 to March 2017, the British gross gambling revenue (GGR) has recorded an increase of 1.8% in comparison to the previous one-year period, taking home £13.7 billion.
Online Going Up
The UK-regulated online gambling sites recorded a combined GGR of £4.68 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.1%, while online gambling accounted for 34% – 1.5% more than during the previous twelve-month period.
Casino products, including poker, dominated online GGR, accounting for 56% of it, while other verticals were far behind – betting (37.1%), bingo (3.5%), exchange betting (2.8%) and pool betting (0.7%).
When it comes to online casino GGR, video slots accounted for 64.5% of the revenue, with table games (15.8%), ‘other’ games (12.3%), card games (12.1%) and poker (5.9%) trailing behind. Football and horse racing were the most popular among online bettors, accounting for 51% of the total online gaming revenue.
The number of active online customers rose by 25% to 28,87 million, although average revenue per account recorded a drop of 12% to £162.
Land-based Stable
GGR of land-based operations recorded a jump of 1% to £3.35 billion, with betting accounting for 95.2% of the pie.
At the same time, the number of off-course betting premise across the country reached 8,502 in September, which is 3.9 less when compared to March. 87.2% of all shops in the United Kingdom is controlled by four brands. William Hill leads the way with 27.9%, followed by Ladbrokes (20.4%), Betfred (19.7%) and Gala Coral (19.2%).
Over-the-counter betting GGR was responsible £1.39 billion, while gaming machines earned £1.8 billion, with machine GGR up by 3.1% on an annual basis, although the total number of machines dropped by 3% during the said period.
Land-based casino GGR recorded a jump of 16.5% to £1.16 billion, while table game GGR was dominated by American roulette (37.1%), punto banco (19.5%) and blackjack (18.9%).
