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Statistics and research release

Gambling business data on gambling during Covid-19 March 2021 (published April 2021)

A collection of data provided by gambling businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.

Statistics
Statistics and research hub

Collection
The gambling market

Series
Market impact of Covid 19

Published on
4 May 2021

Summary

Additional data sets in this series

This release contains incorrect information provided by an operator and should be read with caution. We advise users to refer to the most recent COVID-19 data release, which contains corrected data.

Details

Data tables for operator data

As a result of lockdown restrictions and the furloughing of many staff we did not request data from land-based operators for the month of March and will restart collecting this data after they reopen in April.

The data tables below cover online gambling activity.1

Table 1: Total number of active players per vertical

Data from the biggest operators, covering approximately 80% of the online gambling market showing the number of active players on each vertical.

Note: a player may be active in more than one product, so these columns must not be summarised to give an overall total number of players.

March 2019March 2020April 2020May 2020June 2020July 2020August 2020September 2020October 2020November 2020December 2020January 2021February 2021March 2021% change from February 2021 to March 2021
Slots2,095,8242,618,1652,559,2422,443,1302,458,3052,473,8132,421,0902,574,7162,777,4482,810,4292,975,9363,000,9392,971,0583,276,18410%
Other gaming (including casino)1,712,9861,930,8852,032,6851,946,0241,807,6681,790,0541,708,1111,647,6591,789,9971,869,5312,122,8752,131,3211,943,8682,194,75713%
Betting (Real event)5,200,1654,635,5522,073,9982,237,6194,041,4274,193,0523,788,1584,315,0184,616,9764,804,6434,955,3104,832,8684,823,408*6,015,62625%
Betting (Virtual)206,664388,786558,067287,777244,219224,054203,565204,241211,144225,427246,689239,021221,510269,98419%
Poker266,294408,316626,304557,317418,260350,541314,315295,048307,644342,070338,669382,261351,046338,903-3%

Table 2: Total number of bets placed per vertical

Data from the biggest operators, covering approximately 80% of the online gambling market showing the number of bets placed on each vertical.

March 2019March 2020April 2020May 2020June 2020July 2020August 2020September 2020October 2020November 2020December 2020January 2021February 2021March 2021% change from February 2021 to March 2021
Slots3,855,521,2614,476,762,3815,169,466,1875,301,752,6205,025,562,1354,956,440,9424,910,620,7004,709,343,0315,069,280,7435,246,868,6615,893,170,6075,868,553,0275,504,664,4296,159,504,89912%
Other gaming (including casino)250,562,248257,311,436322,283,690314,964,935282,817,505282,947,938254,131,789259,889,121264,673,314271,828,657313,175,960313,886,879279,104,076305,651,89910%
Betting (Real event)276,386,174191,807,19378,101,454104,043,293255,476,612267,219,421235,869,169246,623,765275,974,515286,115,739293,042,135301,081,387296,906,794*375,179,18226%
Betting (Virtual)14,813,55220,758,18028,493,52824,397,13419,383,20916,784,88714,851,33613,656,55814,835,49216,519,74117,444,64317,812,99416,415,13418,399,41812%
Poker96,202,170133,078,469226,548,896202,073,092138,712,018108,472,238100,713,90687,933,86495,872,335106,836,365110,945,805131,403,728121,773,855116,471,757-4%

Table 3: Session length

Data from the biggest operators, covering approximately 80% of the online gambling market showing average slots session length in minutes and the number of sessions that lasted an hour or longer.

March 2019March 2020April 2020May 2020June 2020July 2020August 2020September 2020October 2020November 2020December 2020January 2021February 2021March 2021Change from February 2021 to March 2021
Average session length (minutes)2622222221212121212222212221-1
Sessions over 1 hour1,573,9261,923,6462,274,5212,327,8182,215,9312,181,9192,030,1101,969,9952,208,5202,274,6662,535,5642,637,6162,520,0942,728,4388%

Table 4: Gross Gambling Yield2

Data from the biggest operators, covering approximately 80% of the online gambling market showing the gross gambling yield (GGY) from each vertical.

Note: March data includes the Cheltenham Festival.

March 2019March 2020April 2020May 2020June 2020July 2020August 2020September 2020October 2020November 2020December 2020January 2021February 2021March 2021% change from February 2021 to March 2021
Slots£162,345,550£186,659,624£169,033,423£184,276,776£166,468,891£162,877,179£164,133,547£157,426,320£172,490,166£176,809,692£199,747,383£193,887,006£176,884,970£202,921,19215%
Other gaming (including casino)£60,749,253£57,829,567£76,952,429£77,891,649£68,527,685£66,048,564£59,502,319£56,585,051£62,683,656£66,449,370£73,945,196£72,726,396£64,284,074£71,247,18511%
Betting (Real event)£85,516,233£160,950,242£61,938,466£101,352,941£217,468,648£209,302,808£164,416,560£189,653,997£290,025,058£209,232,147£319,600,149£279,753,688£263,863,756*£250,567,294-5%
Betting (Virtual)£6,618,687£9,063,796£12,818,108£11,276,994£9,560,200£7,963,419£6,682,074£6,088,550£6,621,075£7,173,437£7,946,792£7,894,519£6,675,907£8,408,17318%
Betting (eSports)£50,223£1,517,548£3,393,637£4,616,610£3,472,951£2,591,106£1,826,930£1,310,019£795,705£1,414,539£1,326,568£1,688,147£1,577,164£1,838,87917%
Poker£8,070,102£12,069,504£20,068,939£18,335,269£11,675,197£9,023,180£8,345,509£7,898,358£8,328,587£9,109,098£9,371,478£10,614,669£9,298,371£9,215,691-1%
Other£4,965,236£4,684,760£1,783,987£1,815,272£1,760,994£1,351,716£1,232,589£1,366,204£1,425,285£1,315,936£1,706,035£1,747,570£2,159,197£2,087,213-3%

Notes

1 Changes in data could be due to a variety of factors impacting the market since March 2019.

2 This should not be directly compared to GGY published in our Industry Statistics because this data is taken from a sample of approximately 80% of the online market.

* Please note that some of the February data have been revised following a resubmission from an operator. This impacts all tables (1-4).

Data and downloads

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