Remote Gambling in the UK Worth Almost a Billion Pounds

22 September 2009, Staff writer

According to a recently published study undertaken by the UK Gambling Commission, UK residents lost almost a billion pounds last year on remote gambling services.

The study on UK gambling generally, but including a consideration of remote gambling, was compiled from information garnered from many sources including industry operators and associations, Her Majesty’s Revenue And Customs and the Department for Culture, Media And Sport.

Some key findings:

Gambling Generally in the UK
In the 2006/07 financial year, UK residents turned over a whopping £84 billion (ie total bets placed), for a resulting yield (ie player losses) of £9.9 billion. 

Over a quarter of total yield was attributable to the National Lottery - accounting for the terrible return to player rate on total turnover for the game mathematicians out there (lotteries generally offer the worst return to player rate of all gambling games - usually in the order of 55% to 65% depending on legislatively prescribed returns).

Remote Gambling
Of the £9.9 billion spent gambling, £896 million was spent online by an estimated 6.2 million active UK remote gambling account holders. In all, 16 million online/remote playing accounts have been opened by British gamblers.  Even allowing for multiple account holders, the clear inference is that a good portion of UK adults have participated in some form of remote gambling.

While the number of UK based remote gambling licensees grew from 300 to 328, it is likely that the majority of play occurred on services licensed outside the UK.  “The majority of gambling sites accessible to British citizens are regulated overseas,” read the Commission’s results.

For more details on live casino gambling in the UK, including a consideration of relevant regulations and the best live casino options for UK payers having regard to toll free support and pound play, visit our UK regional analysis page.