Statistics and research release
Gambling business data on gambling during coronavirus (COVID-19) March 2021 (published April 2021)
A collection of data provided by gambling businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.
Summary
Also published recently
This release contains incorrect information provided by an operator and should be read with caution. We advise users to refer to the most recent coronavirus (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 2019 | March 2020 | April 2020 | May 2020 | June 2020 | July 2020 | August 2020 | September 2020 | October 2020 | November 2020 | December 2020 | January 2021 | February 2021 | March 2021 | % change from February 2021 to March 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slots | 2,095,824 | 2,618,165 | 2,559,242 | 2,443,130 | 2,458,305 | 2,473,813 | 2,421,090 | 2,574,716 | 2,777,448 | 2,810,429 | 2,975,936 | 3,000,939 | 2,971,058 | 3,276,184 | 10% |
| Other gaming (including casino) | 1,712,986 | 1,930,885 | 2,032,685 | 1,946,024 | 1,807,668 | 1,790,054 | 1,708,111 | 1,647,659 | 1,789,997 | 1,869,531 | 2,122,875 | 2,131,321 | 1,943,868 | 2,194,757 | 13% |
| Betting (Real event) | 5,200,165 | 4,635,552 | 2,073,998 | 2,237,619 | 4,041,427 | 4,193,052 | 3,788,158 | 4,315,018 | 4,616,976 | 4,804,643 | 4,955,310 | 4,832,868 | 4,823,408* | 6,015,626 | 25% |
| Betting (Virtual) | 206,664 | 388,786 | 558,067 | 287,777 | 244,219 | 224,054 | 203,565 | 204,241 | 211,144 | 225,427 | 246,689 | 239,021 | 221,510 | 269,984 | 19% |
| Poker | 266,294 | 408,316 | 626,304 | 557,317 | 418,260 | 350,541 | 314,315 | 295,048 | 307,644 | 342,070 | 338,669 | 382,261 | 351,046 | 338,903 | -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 2019 | March 2020 | April 2020 | May 2020 | June 2020 | July 2020 | August 2020 | September 2020 | October 2020 | November 2020 | December 2020 | January 2021 | February 2021 | March 2021 | % change from February 2021 to March 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slots | 3,855,521,261 | 4,476,762,381 | 5,169,466,187 | 5,301,752,620 | 5,025,562,135 | 4,956,440,942 | 4,910,620,700 | 4,709,343,031 | 5,069,280,743 | 5,246,868,661 | 5,893,170,607 | 5,868,553,027 | 5,504,664,429 | 6,159,504,899 | 12% |
| Other gaming (including casino) | 250,562,248 | 257,311,436 | 322,283,690 | 314,964,935 | 282,817,505 | 282,947,938 | 254,131,789 | 259,889,121 | 264,673,314 | 271,828,657 | 313,175,960 | 313,886,879 | 279,104,076 | 305,651,899 | 10% |
| Betting (Real event) | 276,386,174 | 191,807,193 | 78,101,454 | 104,043,293 | 255,476,612 | 267,219,421 | 235,869,169 | 246,623,765 | 275,974,515 | 286,115,739 | 293,042,135 | 301,081,387 | 296,906,794* | 375,179,182 | 26% |
| Betting (Virtual) | 14,813,552 | 20,758,180 | 28,493,528 | 24,397,134 | 19,383,209 | 16,784,887 | 14,851,336 | 13,656,558 | 14,835,492 | 16,519,741 | 17,444,643 | 17,812,994 | 16,415,134 | 18,399,418 | 12% |
| Poker | 96,202,170 | 133,078,469 | 226,548,896 | 202,073,092 | 138,712,018 | 108,472,238 | 100,713,906 | 87,933,864 | 95,872,335 | 106,836,365 | 110,945,805 | 131,403,728 | 121,773,855 | 116,471,757 | -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 2019 | March 2020 | April 2020 | May 2020 | June 2020 | July 2020 | August 2020 | September 2020 | October 2020 | November 2020 | December 2020 | January 2021 | February 2021 | March 2021 | Change from February 2021 to March 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average session length (minutes) | 26 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 22 | 22 | 21 | 22 | 21 | -1 |
| Sessions over 1 hour | 1,573,926 | 1,923,646 | 2,274,521 | 2,327,818 | 2,215,931 | 2,181,919 | 2,030,110 | 1,969,995 | 2,208,520 | 2,274,666 | 2,535,564 | 2,637,616 | 2,520,094 | 2,728,438 | 8% |
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 2019 | March 2020 | April 2020 | May 2020 | June 2020 | July 2020 | August 2020 | September 2020 | October 2020 | November 2020 | December 2020 | January 2021 | February 2021 | March 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 | £202,921,192 | 15% |
| 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 | £71,247,185 | 11% |
| 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 | £8,408,173 | 18% |
| 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 | £1,838,879 | 17% |
| 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).
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