The gambling industry in the UK is growing at a rapid pace. Between October 2017 and September 2018, the total gross gambling yield for the UK-based industry reached £14.5 billion.
And while some betting shops and bingo premises closed their doors, the number of gaming machines across the UK had a 2.4% increase.
According to the latest statistics by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), the total gambling market was worth £14.3 billion between October 2018 and September 2019. The statistic shows that online gambling holds the largest share of the market, accounting for 38.60% of the overall sector. The European online gambling market is projected to grow, witnessing a CAGR of 9.20% during the forecast period (2020-2025). Growing hardware and software innovations and the rising popularity of casino and sports betting gambling, along with enhanced internet penetration, are expected to drive the growth of the European online gambling market.
The swift development of the industry is due, in part, to the growth of the online casino
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marketplace as well as the liberalisation of gambling laws by the government under Tony Blair. The Gambling Act of 2005 had particularly strong implications on the future of the sector, opening the doors for TV advertising for sports betting as well as online casinos and poker. It also laid the regulatory groundwork for fixed odds betting terminals, which have recently come under criticism from British charities like GambleAware and have undergone changes in legislation.
Despite the new laws affecting fixed odd betting terminals in UK casinos and bookmakers on high streets (cutting the maximum stake from £100 to £2), the gambling industry as a whole is booming.
Income from remote betting sources, like online casinos, online poker and online bingo, have risen from £817 million in 2009 to £4.5 billion in 2017 — now accounting for more than a third of the industry. And 8,423 betting shops – as well as 1,639 licensed arcades – continue to operate across the country.
Regulating the rise
As the first country to introduce online gambling regulations, the UK’s gambling market has
reaped the benefits of straightforward and clear legislation. All forms of interactive online
gambling are legal as long as the providers of the service have been successfully granted a UK casino license from the local regulatory authority, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC). The legal gambling age in the UK is 18 years of age; this is the only condition for online players in the UK. While previously legislation required that players needed to wait 24 hours after signing up as a member to gamble, it was abolished as part of the 2005 act.
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Still, there are many regulations issued by the UKGC that companies – including online casinos – need to abide by to ensure that they are operating correctly on both an ethical and legal level.
As a governing body, the UKGC are also tasked with the publication of guidance and advice as well as research — alongside licensing, compliance and enforcement. All operators who provide gambling services, both land-based and online, are required to be licensed. Lottery games, gambling software, betting, bingo and casino games all require a separate licence issued by the UKGC. Online casinos with a UK licence are held to a series of conditions issued by the UKGC; a licence can be revoked, or fines imposed, if the UKGC discovers that the operator has not complied with regulations.
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Section 24 of the Gambling Act 2005 states that providers must ensure the following:
- Gambling is conducted in a fair and open way.
- Children and other vulnerable people are protected from being harmed or exploited by gambling websites.
- Assistance is made available to people who are, or may be, affected by problems related to gambling.
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Tighter regulations in the future for UK casinos
Recent reports from the UKGC indicated a rise by 1% in gambling in the UK during 2018 — as many as 46% of the participants surveyed. The report also noted issues with how accessible gambling can be for minors; it revealed that 14% of children between the ages 11 and 16 had partaken is some form of betting during 2018 while using their own money. As a result of the findings, stricter age and ID checks came into effect in May 2019.
This new regulation, which involves ID checks and stricter verification before players can commit a deposit on websites, may actually have an alternative benefit to its users. According to the UKGC, 15% of all reported user complaints are due to customers struggling with withdrawal delays because they weren’t properly verified.
A comprehensive verification and ID check made during the registration process would eliminate withdrawal delays, as well as protecting children and teenagers who have been able to play online without the regulation in place.
It would also assist the UKGC with the prevention of money laundering and other criminal activities that may be committed through online casino websites, as well as offering the service providers themselves a wealth of data about their customer base — before they’ve even played.
As the gambling industry changes, so will the regulations that enforce the marketplace. These regulations will continue to ensure players get the most entertaining experience while service providers are operating both ethically and fairly.
For example, visit Free Spins Bonuses for a list of nektan casinos to play at.
iGaming Tracker’s latest research reveals casino supplier market share across 20 top betting sites VS. 20 top casino-focused websites in the UK.
iGaming Tracker’s latest research shows supplier market share of casino games across 20 of the top sports betting websites compared with 20 of the top casino-focused websites in the UK. By Ken Muir, director, iGaming Tracker.
The market share is calculated as the duration of a provider’s games in the top 25 positions of the websites’ main pages. The size of the bubbles in the visualisations below equates to the respective market share of each supplier.
Playtech dominates for sports sites
Unsurprisingly maybe, Playtech dominated supplier market share across betting sites and casino-only (pure play) sites during the period 1st to 31st May, 2017. However its share was proportionately lower on casino sites, while Swedish casino specialist NetEnt is just behind.
Playtech’s dominance on UK betting sites is largely due to its exclusive tabs, which are present on many of the largest UK sportsbooks.
If you take these pages out of the analysis, i.e. analyse “non-exclusive” pages, Playtech ranks 8th in sports and 4th on casino sites. These rankings are helped by Playtech’s recent acquisitions of Quickspin and Eyecon.
Brands owned by sportsbook operators have a significant share
The growing share of “own brand” games on sports betting sites is becoming more and more prominent.
Paddy Power Betfair’s Cayetano, Sky Bet’s Core Gaming and Ladbrokes Coral’s CR Games all appear in the top 20 games suppliers, even when looking at 20 sports websites as a whole. We will look at this trend in more detail in a future article.
Supplier mix changes when you compare sports vs. casino
Some suppliers have a larger market share in sports betting sites, some have a larger share on dedicated casino sites. IGT and Netent have a bigger share in the dedicated casino sites.
When you take out the exclusive pages of Playtech on the betting sites and look at the non-exclusive pages it is evident that Blueprint Gaming has a bigger share on the sports sites compared to dedicated casino sites.
Some suppliers over-index in the top positions
The visualisation looks at the 25 most prominent game positions on each main page of the sites. However, the mix changes if you look at all the game positions.
For example when you look at non-exclusive casino pages on the sports betting websites SG Interactive ranks third behind Blueprint Gaming in second. But if you look at all positions SG Interactive has a bigger share of games than Blueprint Gaming.
Other games suppliers that over-index in the top positions are IGT and NextGen. Games suppliers that under-index in the top positions are Microgaming and iSoftbet.
iGaming Tracker – how it works
iGaming Tracker tracks hundreds of casino sites worldwide every day. From this data it can assess which games are on what sites and where they are positioned on the pages. It can also measure the market share of casino games suppliers by percentage or “real estate” on casino sites at any given date. For more information visit www.igamingtracker.com or email [email protected].
How the data was compiled
Website pages listed below were tracked daily from 1st – 31st May. If a site has multiple tabs (e.g. “Arcade” and “Vegas”) both pages are taken into account. “Table” games such as roulette are excluded from the analysis. Owned companies are aggregated, for example Quickspin and Eyecon are grouped with Playtech.
The analysis looks at the top 25 positions on each page only. Sites are tracked every 24 hours. The pages monitored for this analysis were desktop pages only.
Sites tracked
Sports betting sites
10Bet
https://www.10bet.co.uk/casino/
https://www.10bet.co.uk/games/
Bet UK
https://www.betuk.com/
Bet365
http://casino.bet365.com/home/en/?groupid=Slots
http://vegas.bet365.com/home/en?groupid=Featured
https://games.bet365.com/home
Betfair
https://arcade.betfair.com/
https://casino.betfair.com/
https://vegasslots.betfair.com/
Betfred
http://www.betfred.com/casino
BetSafe
https://www.betsafe.com/en/casino
BetVictor
http://www.betvictor.com/casino/en#category/featured/favourites
Bwin
https://casino.bwin.com/en/casino/home
Coral
http://www.coral.co.uk/casino/top-games
http://www.coral.co.uk/games/top-games
http://www.coral.co.uk/slots/top-games
Ladbrokes
http://casino.ladbrokes.com/en
http://slots.ladbrokes.com/en#/new-games
http://vegas.ladbrokes.com/en
Marathon Bet
https://www.marathonbet.co.uk/en/casino/lobby?v=casino
MyBet
https://www.mybet.com/en/casino
NetBet
https://casino.netbet.co.uk
PaddyPower
http://casino.paddypower.com/
http://games.paddypower.com/
Sky Bet
https://www.skybingo.com/games
https://www.skycasino.com/
https://www.skyvegas.com/
Sunbets
https://www.sunbets.co.uk/casino/
Titanbet
http://casino.titanbet.co.uk/
Unibet
https://www.unibet.co.uk/casino
https://www.unibet.co.uk/softgames
https://www.unibet.com/casino
WilliamHill
http://vegas.williamhill.com/
https://casino.williamhill.com/#!/
https://games.williamhill.com/
https://macau.williamhill.com/#!/
Winner
http://casino.winner.co.uk/casino
Casino sites
21.co.uk
https://www.21.co.uk/
32red
https://www.32red.com/
777
Casino http://www.777.com/
888 Casino
http://www.888casino.com/casino-games/slots/
BGO
https://www.bgo.com/casino
https://www.bgo.com/games
https://www.bgo.com/vegas
BGT
https://www.bgtgames.com/
Casumo
https://www.casumo.com/en-gb/
Foxy Casino
https://www.foxycasino.com/
Gala Casino
https://www.galacasino.com/
https://www.galacasino.com/casino
Genting
https://www.gentingcasino.com/
Grosvenor Casino
https://www.grosvenorcasinos.com/
Leo Vegas
https://www.leovegas.com/en#
Mansion
https://play.mansioncasino.com/
Mr Green
https://casino.mrgreen.com/en-GB/
Pink Casino
https://www.pinkcasino.co.uk/
Royal Panda
https://www.royalpanda.com/united-kingdom/
Slot Boss
https://www.slotboss.co.uk/
Spin and Win
https://www.spinandwin.com/
Spin Genie
https://www.spingenie.com/
Star Spins
https://www.starspins.com/viewgames/slots