Gambling - Commission release gambling statistics

The Gambling Commission has just published figures in relation to the British Gambling Industry. These provide an update on the last figures published in November 2015.

Some interesting findings are detailed as follows:

• “£12.6bn- Total Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) for the Great Britain gambling industry (October 2014 - September 2015). This compares with £11.2bn reported in the April 2014 - March 2015 industry statistics (Care needs to be taken when comparing these figures because the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act only came into effect on 1 November 2014.
• 29% (£3.6bn)of the gambling market share is remote (online) betting, bingo and casino (October 2014 - September 2015). This remains steady; showing little change from the first five months' worth of online data published in November 2015, following changes in the law which meant the online sector was regulated by the Gambling Commission under a point of consumption regime.
• £1.7bn - Contributions to good causes from the National Lottery (October 2014 - September 2015) increased by 2.1% from £1.67bn during the period April 2014 - March 2015.
• £195m- Contributions to good causes from large society lotteries increased by 3.9% between the April 2014 - March 2015 report and the October 2014 - September 2015 report.
• 8,809- The number of betting shops (March 2016) decreased by 1.9% compared to 8,975 in March 2015.
• 1,721- The number of arcades (March 2016) fell by 11.1% compared to 1,937 in March 2015 (Excludes those requiring only a Local Authority permit).
• 34,704 - The number of B2 machinesin betting shops decreased by 0.5%. A total of 34,894 was reported in the last industry statistics report (April 2014 - March 2015). The GGY from these machines increased by 1.5% from £1.68bn to £1.71bn Note that this figure incorporates B2 and B3 content. See page 10 of the Industry statistics for more information).
• 599- The total number of bingo premises (March 2016) decreased by 10.1% to 599 compared to March 2015, with an increase in bingo game GGY (October 2014 - September 2015) of 4.9% - the first increase since April 2011 - March 2012 (This includes all forms of bingo apart from that played on machines in bingo halls).”

It is perhaps interesting to note that despite the perceived increase in gambling premises in certain quarters that these figures show an overall  reduction in betting shops, Arcades and Bingo premises as well as a reduction in the overall number of B2 Gaming machines.

A link to the Gambling Commission article can be found here.