The COVID-19 pandemic brought the economies across the world to a standstill in the first half of 2020. Due to the suspension of business operations, there have been many layoffs, leaving millions of people jobless.

Just like the rest of the world, the UK has also faced the brunt of the outbreak, leading to the shutdown of various industries, including the gambling sector. According to the UK’s National Statistics (ONS), 0.4 percent of companies have permanently shut down due to this pandemic. The ones that are still functional, have cut down on an average of 21 percent of their workforce.

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.
The UK gambling industry’s gross gambling yield fell by 0.3% year-on-year, according to figures released in the UK Gambling Commission’s annual statistic report. Online gambling revenues fell by 0.6%, down to £5.3bn ($6.84bn) The yield was £14.36bn ($18.56bn) for the year ending March 2019.
Those figures put the gambling industry ahead of the music industry, which generated revenues of £12.2 billion in the UK throughout 2016, as well as the video game industry, with gamers spending approximately £4 billion a year on PC, console and mobile games.

The full lockdown in the UK has resulted in significant changes in consumer behaviour, and have affected the gambling industry.

The pandemic has left a huge impact in the UK gambling industry across the country. The government issued a decree instructing to close all casinos, bookmaking, bingo halls, restaurants, cinemas, bars, and other businesses.

2019-statistics from Statista show the share of online gambling participants in the UK by type of gambling activity. Sports betting dominated the market, with 81.3%, and casino games were not close behind with 73.6%, while virtual dog or horse races made up 65.1%.

The operating data by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) comparing statistics of March 2020 and March 2019 provided key insights into the changing gambling market trends. Since all the retail-gambling venues were closed in March 2020, the gambling activities that usually generate 50 percent of the total market (except lotteries) stopped.

Less Percentage of Consumers are Gambling

During the lockdown, only licensed betting operators in the UK had permission to operate at the gambling venues in June 2020. However, consumer participation in gambling outlets declined sharply.

The full lockdown period did not attract many new consumers to gambling. A YouGov survey between May 20 and 21, 2020, shows that only 0.4 percent of respondents resumed gambling for the first time after the lockdown started. In comparison, nearly 2.1 percent of adults stopped gambling altogether during that period.

When it comes to the National Lottery, the YouGov data further shows that consumer participation dropped in draw-based games to 22 percent in mid-June from 26 percent in mid-April. It happened due to a change in consumer behaviour where we can see a significant shift from retail to online gambling.

During the lockdown many consumers tried new gambling products

The online operator data on online gambling reveals that over the past few months, more consumers began trying new digital gambling products.

During May 2020, the scenario was almost identical to the previous month, though there was a marginal drop in the percentage of active players who participated in more than one gambling activity, which came down to 40 percent from 43 percent.

Online Gaming Market Surged during the Lockdown

Again, the UKGC report shows a significant rise in the percentage of consumers searching and participating in online gambling. There has been a rise of nearly 25 percent in people trying online slots, and it went up further by around 38 percent when it comes to poker. This data is during the first two months of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The online gaming industry is one of those rare sectors that could survive through this pandemic with relatively lesser financial damage. The popularity of online casinos has gone up sharply, and they are doing brisk business compared to the established traditional casinos. Check for top independent and EU casinos.

Popular UK Online Casinos Lead the Way

During the pandemic, the UK gambling industry witnessed a major shift, as many gamblers began moving to online gambling due to the closure of physical gaming houses. This switchover has boosted the popular gambling websites in the country.

Many customers love to do gambling on their smartphone using the apps, while others participate in online gambling on their desktops and laptops. If you are interested in top-quality online gambling, check this guide to casinos not on gamstop to satisfy your cravings for gambling.

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.

Uk Gambling Market Statistics