UK gambling revenue dips following retail betting shop closures

UK gambling revenue took a modest dip in the most recent UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) survey, as online growth failed to offset a double-digit decline in retail operations.

On Thursday, the UKGC released its latest regulated market statistics for the period spanning October 2018 to September 2019, during which overall revenue totaled £14.26b, a 0.5% decline from the most recent report spanning April 2018 to March 2019 (and down even further from £14.5b in the 12 months ending September 2018).

Online casino revenue claimed the largest share of the overall pie with £3.19b, up 3.9% and just topping National Lottery revenue of £3.184b (+3.4%). Online betting rose 4.3% to £2.12b, while online bingo jumped 12.5% to £198m.

Combined online gambling revenue (excluding online National Lottery sales) hit £5.51b, up from the £5.3b reported in the 12 months ending March 2019, reversing the rare negative growth (-0.6%) recorded in the previous survey.