British remote market rises to £4.8bn, new figures show
Gambling Commission report for 12 months to September 2016 reflects growth in betting with casino static
Great Britain’s remote gaming market generated £4.8bn in gross gaming yield (GGY) for the 12 months to September 2016, a period which saw betting revenues close the gap on the larger casino vertical.
According to figures released by the Gambling Commission this morning, the size of the overall online market increased by 6% on the £4.5bn registered in the year to March 2016 – the regulator’s previous update.
And it was the betting vertical, boosted by Euro 2016, which powered much of the growth with GGY up 11% from £1.59bn in the year to March 2016 to £1.76bn in the 12 months to September 2016.
Yet despite a relatively flat period, casino remained the largest GGY generator as it moved from £2.55bn in the year to March 2016 to £2.57bn at the latest count.
Subsequently, there was little movement in casino products as slots remained the biggest money spinner with £1.66bn, up from £1.65bn, and roughly two-thirds of casino GGY.
Elsewhere, bingo saw a slight decline in GGY from £151m in the year to March 2016 to £150m in the 12 months to September, while in the same period betting exchanges moved up from £172m to £190m.
The Commission also gave a figure for gambling software GGY, which was down 3% to £520m for the year to September when compared to the year to March.
When including retail, the total British gambling market was worth £13.8bn GGY with land-based betting generating £3.4bn, slightly up on the year to March, and bricks and mortar casino racking up £1.2bn, almost £200m more than six months earlier.
The figures published last year were the first full-set of numbers given by the regulator since the introduction of the Point of Consumption licensing regime in November 2014, which means there is currently no like-for-like comparison available for the October 2015 to September 2016 numbers.