Statistics and research release
Cross Venue Gaming Machines Data
Updated cross-venue gaming machines data from 2022 to 2023
Summary
Also published recently
As part of the Commission’s gaming machine consultation , we collected updated cross-venue gaming machines data from 2022 to 2023 (covering AGCs, betting and bingo) and 2025 (covering casinos). The data requested covered expenditure and session length on gaming machines within the four sectors, following similar data collection exercises undertaken in 2018 and 2019.
Details
As part of the gaming machine consultation, we performed an industry data request to update the cross-venue gaming machine data previously collected in 2018 and 2019. The purpose was to update our evidence base and support our decision-making process for proposals within the consultation.
The data collected covers 80 percent of the Category B machine market, with the following coverage by sector (noting the following further detail on AGC and Bingo sector machines):
- 74 percent of AGC Category B machines
- 100 percent of LBO Category B machines
- 51 percent of Bingo Category B machines
- 50 percent of Casino Category B machines.
Caution should be exercised when interpreting the data and accompanying analysis as it is not reflective of the entire machines sector. It is also important to note that consumer playing patterns may differ across operators.
Caution should also be exercised when comparing this data with previous releases due to a number of factors, including different reporting periods for the request and varying market coverage in the two datasets.
The data was collected to inform the Commission's policy considerations. It is published as management information and does not constitute official statistics.
Notes
‘Cat B’ refers to any session made up solely of play on B1, B2, B3 or B4 games.
‘All Categories’ refers to all Cat B and Cat C sessions, and mixed sessions (sessions containing a combination of Cat B play alongside Cat C and/or Cat D play).
As part of the data request, we defined a session as:
- if a session is not already in progress, a session begins when credit is inserted by any method, or when a game is played
- if machine credit (excluding promotional credit) is below 20p for 60 seconds from the end of the last game cycle, then the session ends
- if there is no player input for 240 seconds, then the session ends irrespective of machine balance
- if a player presses ‘Collect’ at any time during a session, and all uncommitted credit is cashed out, the session ends
- any interruption to normal machine operation, that is, power cut, power off, malfunction or door open, will end the current session.
The data collection exercise did expose limitations in the existing availability of sessional data, which further supported our decision to establish a session definition as part of the gaming machine consultation.
In contrast to the other sectors where the data covers April 2022 to March 2023, the Casino data collected covers only January 2025. The initial request only garnered one response with usable data; we therefore reached out to a number of operators for further data.
After discussions with the trade body and operators, it was highlighted that machine play does not fluctuate significantly month-by-month and therefore data from one month can be used as a reasonable proxy for annual playing behaviour for comparative and extrapolation purposes.
The January 2025 data has therefore been annualised by multiplying the monthly figures by 12 to allow comparison with the other sectors.
Data submissions from casino operators were based upon carded play on their machines. A trade body noted that carded play may be more commonly used by highly engaged gamblers than by the wider customer base.
During analysis of the dataset, an anomaly was identified whereby data from gaming machines located in certain 'high street' bingo premises had been incorrectly allocated to the AGC sector.
Approximately 2,000 machines located within ‘high street’ bingo premises have been incorrectly assigned to the AGC sector rather than the bingo sector. As a result, the AGC figures include activity from both AGCs and ‘high street’ bingo premises, while the bingo figures primarily reflect activity within traditional bingo clubs.
Stakeholder engagement has indicated that gaming machine activity within 'high street' bingo premises may be more comparable to activity within AGCs than to that observed in traditional bingo clubs. The Commission considers this to be a reasonable interpretation of the available evidence.
As a result, the AGC dataset is likely to provide a broadly representative picture of gaming machine activity within that sector. However, the bingo dataset may primarily reflect activity within traditional bingo clubs and may therefore not fully represent the licensed bingo sector as a whole.
If machine data from 'high street' bingo premises were correctly classified within the bingo sector, the Commission would expect to observe a modest increase in activity at the upper and lower ends of the distributions presented for bingo premises.
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