How Much Is The Gambling Industry Worth Uk
Sponsored articles The state of the UK gambling industry in 2019 The online UK gambling industry is worth around £5 billion and each year produces record highs. It accounts for nearly one-third of all bets placed with the UK’s gaming yield producing more than £14 billion. Last week, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) revealed financial figures for the 12 months ending September 2014 which showed the UK gambling industry is worth £7.1 billion, not including the National Lottery. The massive figure is an increase of £327 million (up 5%) when compared to April 2013 to March 2014. The buying up of dog tracks in the UK by online bookmakers for the purposes of streaming live racing is a positive sign the industry may recover and possibly even begin to grow again. It is estimated that bookies collectively make over £250,000,000 a year in profit with the treasury collecting over £60,000,000 from the sport. Betting and gaming tax receipts in the UK 2000-2020 Published by D. Clark, Nov 3, 2020 In 2019/20 betting and gaming tax receipts amount to just over 3 billion British pounds, which was also the.
October 2017 to September 2018, saw the GGY, OR Gross Gambling Yield, of the UK’s gambling industry hit a staggering £14.5bn. Gambling enterprises are required to pay the UK government a minimum of 15% tax on any amount up to £2,370,500. The tax then increases accordingly to 20%, 30%, 40% and 50%. Thanks to these astonishing numbers, the gambling industry has cemented its place as one of the UK’s largest and most profitable industries.
While there may be many people who disagree with gambling from a moral standpoint, and many who argue that vulnerable individuals are at risk of gambling addiction and therefore tighter controls should be imposed upon the industry as a whole, there is no denying that the UK gambling industry is a mainstay of the UK economy.
The Pieces of the Pie
The UK gambling sector can be divided into a number of different areas, namely; online gambling, betting shops, bingo halls, land-based casinos, arcades and lotteries. Of these, online (or remote) gambling – which includes online betting, online casino games, online bingo and online lotteries – is responsible for the lion’s share of the profits; 39% or £5.6bn GGY. Land-based bookies come in second at 22.1% and the National Lottery follows closely at 20.6%. Traditional casinos rake in 7.4% and old-school bingo halls are responsible for 4.7%. 2017-2018 saw a slight downturn in overall profits compared to the previous years, however; the numbers still indicate that the UK’s love of gambling remains strong and true.
Online Revival
New and improved UK online casinos cater specifically to the UK market. Many casino brands have versions of their casino sites for players outside of the UK, however; if a casino brand has sites that cater to a worldwide audience, their UK players will be redirected to the UK version of the site in order to ensure that the UK economy benefits from their GGY. There are hundreds of excellent new casino sites available to UK players, so many in fact that it can be a mammoth task for users to sift through them and find a site that suits their specific needs.
This is where another branch of the gambling industry comes in to play; the casino review sites. Review sites are run by industry experts that know exactly how things work behind the scenes; in other words, they know a good casino when they see one. These sites cultivate stellar reputations for delivering up-to-date information on everything casino-related and for providing players with meticulously curated lists of the best new UK online casinos on the market. We recommend following their advice whenever possible.
New Legislation
In response to the question of moral responsibility and the protection of vulnerable individuals, the UK government have imposed strict regulations and guidelines to combat the negative aspects of gambling. One of these measures was to introduce GambleAware, a charity charged with undertaking research on the negative aspects of gambling and thereby providing free prevention and treatment services to those at risk. And more recently, the UK government announced a cap on betting limits for FOTB (fixed odds betting terminals) – reducing the limit from £100 to £2.
Many people equate the decline in overall profits to the fact that punters are no longer able to get carried away on FOTB machines, however; this is viewed as a positive rather than a negative. Another major change for the UK gambling industry was the introduction of the 2014 Gambling Bill. The UK Gambling Commission is now responsible for all UK casino sites and gambling enterprises. The legislation in place ensures that no enterprise can offer gambling options without obtaining a licence from the UKGC.
Taxation
The 2014 Gambling Bill has done much to improve the gambling experience for both players and the general public. One of the biggest changes was the introduction of the 15% tax on all profits generated from betting. This tax actually works in the punters favour because they no longer have to pay tax on any of their winnings. This tax also ensures that the UK economy benefits from the continued growth of the industry and justifies its somewhat dubious nature. There may have been a few grumbles from industry insiders, but the fact is that the public perception of gambling has become more favourable because of the amount of money generated from the taxation.
Rules and Regulations
The Gambling Bill has also enabled the UKGC to take the industry in a new direction; out of the seedy shadows and into a new era of transparency and good business practices. Thanks to the UKGC licence and regulations, new online casinos in the UK, in particular, have been forced to improve their services in numerous ways and the results have been beneficial to both the players and the casinos. The remote sector has increased its revenue thanks to new online UK casinos that offer heightened security measures, improved data protection, regularly audited software providers and games, a wider range of trustworthy payment providers and vastly improved customer service. More and more players are now signing up for online casino accounts because they feel safe in the knowledge that the casino will play fair and that they actually have a chance at winning a bob or two.
Employment and Charitable Giving
We’ve made much of the fact that the UK economy benefits from the GGY, but we should also mention that the gambling industry is responsible for employing over 100,000 workers in the UK. An employee often earns an above-average salary and, therefore, gets taxed accordingly. The industry’s workforce also contributes to the economy by spending their hard-earned pennies in other sectors; housing, entertainment, technology and food to name but a few. And to end on a high note, we should also point out that from the 2017-2018 GGY alone, the National Lottery contributed over £1bn to charitable causes.
In conclusion, when it comes to the UK’s gambling habits the pros certainly outweigh the cons. And the UK’s GDP has benefited immensely from an industry that has pulled its socks up and revamped its image to become a stalwart of the economy.
We asked people in the UK aged 18-54 about their interest in watching sports, betting on sports, and playing casino games. Some of the results were expected, but other findings were alarming.
It’s worth noting that we screened anyone that did matched betting or arbitrage betting to ensure our dataset was not skewed by those that know how to beat the system.
This data was compiled & published in September 2018.
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Our Thoughts
As a site that teaches profitable betting strategies, and we’ve taught thousands of people via our free beginner course and on-site lessons, it’s saddening to see what appears to be genuine delusion throughout punters in the country.
They’re harsh words, but arguably more than fair.
It’s not unusual for people to think they are profitable bettors when in fact they are not; psychologically you remember your wins more than you remember your losses.
However, it’s the sheer number of people that think they are profitable — a massively unrealistic quantity — that no doubt spurs bookmakers and casinos, and broadcasters and the media as a byproduct, to shove gambling adverts in the faces of spectators anywhere they turn.
The fact that over half of 18-24 that place sports bets think they are profitable is a sure sign, to us, that there’s a serious lack of education in the betting world — probably made worse by aggressive marketing from bookmakers in the industry.
It’s hard to judge exactly how much marketing affects our data because those that watch sports are obviously more likely to bet on it than those that don’t watch sports. However, the fact that those who watch football on TV are 33% more likely to gamble on casino games compared to those that don’t watch football on TV suggests that football fans have a subconscious desire to gamble, which must surely be influenced by how often they’re subject to betting and gambling-related adverts.
Another telling statistic is that 35.3% of all sports bettors believe they are profitable — this number rises to 41.24% for those that bet regularly — but only 7.8% of these people have ever been restricted or banned by a bookmaker. As a site with years of experience in the industry, we can assure you that almost all profitable bettors (long-term) are banned or restricted in terms of stakes and access to promotions. Large bookmakers like Skybet claim to have only restricted 2-3% of their customer base — nowhere near this 35.3% supposed ‘winner’ percentage.
Only just over half of these ‘profitable’ bettors knew what a betting exchange was; a type of site that will give higher odds (and therefore more value) on almost all markets, almost all of the time.
How Much Is The Uk Betting Industry Worth
One of the most disturbing findings is that 29.55% of all people that play casino games believe they are profitable players.
We already know, due to the pre-survey screening, that none of these people know how to beat casinos. Without them knowing how to exploit casinos, we can confidently say that 0% of these people play casino games profitably long-term.
A very small number of people may have hit a big win, combined with playing infrequently, which would lead to them thinking they were profitable. But there is no way that ‘very small number’ could be anywhere close to 29.55% of people, which means there are likely millions of uneducated people in the UK that think they can actually beat casinos using some form of strategy or system.
You can’t ‘beat’ casinos without exploiting them: even playing the perfect blackjack game loses you around 50p on every £100 staked in Expected Value.
The Findings
Viewers of horse racing were by far the most likely to place bets out of all TV sports audiences, with only 2.6% of horse racing fans saying they never bet.
Percentage of TV audiences that do bet on sports:
- 97.4% Horse racing
- 86.4% Boxing
- 81.1% Tennis
- 81.1% Golf
- 76.8% Football
- 74.9% Formula 1
- 73.1% Cricket
- 43.9% Other
…Although they’re not necessarily betting on the sport in question.
Fans of horse racing were most likely to believe they were profitable bettors, whereas fans of Formula 1 were least likely.
People that bet online were more likely to bet more money each month compared to those that prefer to bet in bookmakers on the high street:
- 38.7% of online bettors bet £10 – £100 each month (vs 29%)
- 8.6% bet £100 – £500 each month (vs 5%)
- 1.2% bet £500+ each month (vs 1%)
35.3% of sports bettors consider themselves to be ‘profitable’.
…But only 52.6% of these know what a betting exchange is.
…And only 7.8% have ever been banned or restricted (stake limits or removed promotional access) by a bookmaker before.
Of people that believe they aren’t profitable…
- 20.9% say they have lost ‘hundreds’
- 8.5% say they have lost ‘thousands’
- 0.7% say they have lost ‘tens of thousands’
Those that bet in-play (45.4% of bettors surveyed) were 2.2 times more likely to say they believed they make a profit than those that don’t bet in-play.
Men that watch sport are more likely to bet on sports than women that watch sport:
How Much Is The Gambling Industry Worth Ukraine
- Men: 55.1% sometimes, 19% regularly, 25.9% never
- Women: 50.7% sometimes, 17.4% regularly, 31.9% never
Men are also around 22% more likely to believe they were profitable sports bettors than women are.
Those aged 18-24 were significantly more likely to believe they were profitable sports bettors, with 58.5% of this age bracket saying they turned a profit by betting. This number is 36.4% for those aged 25-34, 27.7% for those aged 35-44 and 29.7% for those aged 45-54.
Those aged 18-24 are also betting in bigger quantities than any other age category. 52.3% of bettors in this category are risking more than £10 a month, with this figure being 48.1% for 25-34, 42.5% for 35-44 and 41.5% for 45-54.
12.2% of those in the 18-24 category are risking more than £100 a month on sports bets. This figure is 9.3% for 25.34, 7.8% for 35-44 And 7.9% for 45-54.
Those in middle income brackets were 21% more likely to bet on sports than those in low income brackets and 12% more likely than those in high income brackets.
Of those that never bet on sports, 81.2% also never play games such as blackjack, roulette, slots or bingo.
In comparison, those that bet on sports sometimes were 3.2 times more likely to gamble on casino games, and those that bet regularly on sports were 3.9 times more likely.
29.6% of casino game players considered themselves profitable players.
Those that played casino games regularly were also over 2 times more likely to believe they turned a profit versus those that only played sometimes (25.4% vs 50.9%).
Men are more likely to play casino games than women are:
- Men: 8% regularly, 39% sometimes, 53% never
- Women: 7% regularly, 35% sometimes, 58% never
Men are more likely to believe they are profitable players than women. 31.4% of men that play casino games believe they are profitable, compared to 24.4% of women.
Those aged 18-24 are most likely to think they are profitable casino players, with 54.5% in this category judging themselves as profitable. This figure is 30.7% for the 25-34 category, 20.8% for 35-44 and 16.4% for 45-54.
Those in low income brackets were 8% more likely to believe they were profitable casino game players than those in higher income brackets.
Fans of watching football on TV were 33% more likely to play casino games than those that do not like watching.
You are welcome to use any of our data with source link credit to Beating Betting.
Full data set can be found publicly at beatingbetting.co.uk/dataset. Matched bettors and arbitrage bettors were screened beforehand and were not included in the survey to eliminate unreliable or skewed data.