Uk Gambling Revenue
As a result of regulation changes, the UK gambling industry is one of the most rapidly growing industries around.
The UK gambling industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. As a result of law liberalisation during Tony Blair’s government, the UK has some of the most relaxed laws around gambling in Europe.
This is due, in part, to the creation of the UK Gambling Commission — the governing body that regulates and develops new legislation in the industry. According to reports, the total revenue for the gambling industry in Great Britain was £14.5 billion — with almost a third of it coming from the remote sector (£5.6 billion).
The UK tax treatment of gambling underwent a significant change in 2014 under Part 3 of the Finance Act 2014. This Practice Note looks at general betting duty, pool betting duty, gaming duty, remote gaming duty, machine games duty, bingo duty and lottery duty. Online casino revenue claimed the largest share of the overall pie with £3.19b, up 3.9% and just topping National Lottery revenue of £3.184b (+3.4%). Online betting rose 4.3% to £2.12b, while.
Despite the rise – and success – of the gambling industry, the market has been impacted through a series of new legislations with tighter regulations. Despite this, the industry as a whole has worked hard to bounce back from new restrictions on the marketplace, and continue to deliver a broad range of entertainment experiences for their growing customer base.
A history of marketplace success and change
The boom of the UK gambling industry can be attributed to the Gambling Act 2005 — which came into force on 1 September 2007. The act overhauled previous UK legislation, which dated from 1845, and covered all forms of gambling, from casinos to arcades.
The Gambling Act 2005 had three main objectives: to prevent gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, or an accessory to crime; to ensure gambling was conducted in a fair fashion; to protect children and other vulnerable individuals from being harmed or exploited by gambling. This led to the inception of the UK Gambling Commission, which continues to oversee all forms of gambling, as well as the companies with gambling establishments and platforms, in the UK.
Another important element of the Gambling Act 2005 was that it addressed the online gambling industry. For the first time ever, online casinos and poker as well as sports betting could be advertised on television. And it also opened the doors for the creation of more regional casinos as well as bigger slot machine payouts — a move that received some criticism from the opposing parties.
The legislation remained relatively unchanged until 2014. This was a response to a two-volume document published in 2012 by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport that evaluated – and critiqued – aspects of 2005’s Gambling Act. One of the main criticisms involved a trend for online operators with a British player base to move their operations to places like the Isle of Man and Gibraltar — thereby incurring a business tax rate as low as one percent.
The 2014 Gambling (Licence and Advertising Bill), which came fully into force on 1 December made a shift to how off-shore gambling brands could operate. No longer would they be taxed at point of supply by their operating territory, but instead at the point of consumption — at a flat rate of 15% on gross profits.
The new legislation also included a change in regulation; where previously, online gambling operators were regulated by the territory from which they obtained their license, from 2014 all gambling operators accessing the UK market must obtain their license from the UK Gambling Commission.
A modification of the 2005 Gambling Act came in the form of advertising. Where off-shore gambling operators could once advertise their products in Britain if they held a license from a whitelisted territory, unlicensed operators would now be forbidden from promoting their products.
Changes from 2018 onward
As the market continues to evolve, the UK Gambling Commission has maintained a watchful eye over the industry and made the regulation changes in order to reflect its three principles. This has involved new legislation in areas including casinos (both online and land-based), bingo and sport.
Here, we discuss some of these changes in legislation and how the industry has bounced back in response.
Casinos and bookmakers
In 2018, news broke of a change to legislation that would see the maximum permitted stake on fixed-odds betting terminals would be cut from £100 to £2. This was to the dismay of high street gaming groups, who believed that the legislation would lead to store closures across the UK.
Many companies have begun offering new games to offset the losses on FOBTs. This includes several roulette-style games that were similar to those FOBTs.
A change to 2005’s point of consumption tax (at 15%) was also revealed. As a way to compensate for some of the losses that it would suffer due to changes in the FOBTs maximum stakes, lawmakers made the decision to increase the tax to 21%.
As well as offsetting some of these losses, the government revealed that the point-of-consumption tax would help provide all online casinos and operators with equal opportunities.
Bingo
Bingo has always been a popular form of gaming. Enjoyed by millions of people around the world, more than 3.8 million people in the UK play the game in bingo halls every year. Like other games in the gambling industry, bingo has both benefited – and suffered – from changes in legislation over the years.
The Gambling Act of 2005 did improve bingo’s status as an industry leader. As a result of the UK Gambling Commission – and their regulations of websites – online bingo platforms, including on mobile, have experienced great success. While changes during 2014 did affect offshore bingo companies, the market hasn’t experienced some of the challenges casinos have faced — like the maximum stake reduction on FOTB’s. Best bingo bonuses and other promotions have ensured the industry remains in a strong position; and will continue to grow in the future.
Sports
Sports betting shops first opened their doors in the UK 1961, after approval from the government’s Betting and Gaming Act. One of the main changes in law since have been the new legislation on FOBT’s.
It remains, however, one of the largest sections of the gambling industry; and with the popularity of live sports, one of the most exciting sectors (and experiences) available.
Uk Gambling Revenues
Into the future
Uk Gambling Tax Revenue
When it comes to gambling, the UK continues to have some of the most liberal laws in the world. With the UK Gambling Commission overseeing – and regulating – the industry, the marketplace will continue to grow.
According to the latest stats published by the UK Gambling Commission, UK gamblers bet a massive £14.5 billion last year. Yes, you read that correctly — that’s billion, not million.
That figure includes the gross gaming revenue across multiple sectors, including both online and offline gambling. After reading the summary of this latest report, I began to wonder, “What type of gambling is most popular in the UK?”
I had an intuitive feeling that sports bettors would be the biggest group. However, I wasn’t so sure about which group bet the most money. So, I dug into the data, and here’s what I found regarding which type of gambling is most popular in the UK. This is a breakdown of gambling in the UK by the numbers.
Some Headline Findings
Before breaking the industry down section by section and finding out which type of British gambler bets the most, I dug into the infrastructure of the UK gambling industry. Here are some key stats.
- There are 8,423 betting shops across the UK. Brands like William Hill and Ladbrokes dominate the landscape in all four countries.
- There are 183,813 gaming machines in the UK. That includes fruit machines in pubs and any other type of gaming machine which requires a UKGC license to operate.
- There are 152 casinos in Britain. This includes big franchises like Genting, world-famous casinos like The Hippodrome, and small-time operators all over the country.
- There are 650 bingo halls all over the UK. That number is up 1.1% from the previous year despite the rise of online bingo.
- There are 1,639 licensed arcades in the UK. These even exist in places like Northern Ireland, where casinos are still illegal for now.
- In total, including all of the above, there are 2,757 operators licensed by the UK Gambling Commission.
Phew! That’s a lot of places to make a wager, whatever kind it may be. A quick calculation tells us that there’s one betting shop for every 7,832 people in the country. I suppose that likely equates to one in each town of any significant population, and lots clustered in major cities like London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast. However, there’s only one casino per 434,472 people, and they’re virtually nonexistent outside of medium and large-sized cities.
All of these establishments provide 106,670 jobs for UK citizens. Newspapers often overlook this side of gambling when they report all the doom and gloom of gambling. It’s a mega-industry in this country, and to either cripple it or shut it down would be extremely foolish from an economic point of view.
After understanding this, I was feeling fairly good about my prediction regarding which type of gambling is most popular in the UK. I initially thought sports bettors made up the biggest sector. My logic told me that there couldn’t be this many betting shops unless the demand was there.
Uk Gambling Industry Revenue
What Does the Money Say?
Uk Sports Betting Revenue
The first thing I’m certain of is that more and more money is migrating online. When you consider that the average age of a UK resident is 40 and that the number of UK gambling sites is increasing exponentially, it isn’t difficult to understand what direction this industry is heading.
I looked at the revenue by sector, and here’s what I found.
- Betting accounted for £8.42 billion in revenue and £1.37 billion in yield.
- Bingo generated £1.01 billion in revenue and 355.28 million in yield.
- There is no revenue figure for casinos, but the yield was £1.07 billion.
Of this, remote betting generated a total of £115,456 million. Here’s a quick breakdown of the sector-by-sector numbers.
- Remote betting generated £26.79 million.
- Remote bingo generated £1.54 million.
- Casino gaming generated £87.01 million.
- Pool betting brought in £99.48 million.
While it bugs me that I couldn’t find an exact revenue figure for casino gaming, it’s clear from this data that sports betting is indeed the biggest gambling sector in the UK. That’s true, at least when it comes to profits for operators and the number of locations to bet. However, there isn’t much in it. If I had to guess, I’d say that casino games generate more revenue, even if the profit is a little lower.
What did I learn about online gambling? It isn’t yet as big as I thought it was, and there’s still lots of room for growth. However, I’m sure the numbers are a lot bigger than this when gambling sites without UKGC licences are factored in.
Other Interesting Stats and Facts
While digging around in the UKGC’s data, I decided to let my curiosity take me wherever it wanted. Here are some other interesting facts I learned about gambling in the UK.
- The National Lottery generated £2.99 billion in profits and contributed £1.5 billion to good causes. This is more profit than the other three forms of gambling combined.
- In terms of the total number of machines across the UK, bingo is the winner. There are 74,692 bingo machines. There are 33,324 betting machines, and 3,305 machines offering casino games.
- Of the £8.42 billion generated by betting, only £257.52 million of that was on-course betting.
- Of the big-name betting shops, William Hill has the most premises. There are 2,282 William Hill betting shops in the UK. The runner-up is Ladbrokes with 1,849 betting shops.
- There are 846 roulette tables, 545 blackjack tables, and 172 baccarat tables in UK casinos. There are 3,783 electronic gaming machines.
Conclusion
When we consider all forms of UK gambling, the National Lottery is the biggest of the lot. It’s staggering to think that the lotto made more profits than all of the others combined. Then again, every newsagent and filling station in the country sells tickets, and it’s not even considered “gambling proper” by most people, so it’s much more socially acceptable.
When it comes to the three main “gambling proper” sectors, sports betting is the biggest of the lot. However, casino gaming isn’t far behind it in terms of profitability. While no exact revenue figures are available, I’m fairly sure that casino gaming generates more in terms of sheer cash.
Ultimately, UK gambling is massive, and while responsible operators are scaling back on TV ads, I predict that it won’t lead to any dramatic fall in revenue. The UK is gambling-crazy, and that’s a fact that will remain true no matter how the figures reported here change in the months and years to come!
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