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Statistics and research release

Gambling business data on gambling during coronavirus (COVID-19) July 2021 to December 2021 (published February 2022)

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

Summary

Details

Data tables for operator data

The full dataset from the earlier months of the pandemic is available in the Excel document.

The following data tables 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.

Total number of active players per vertical
Q2Q3
July 2021August 2021September 2021October 2021November 2021December 2021% change from Q2 to Q3 2021
Slots3,155,7723,087,1813,098,3083,219,5253,190,7573,423,1405%
Other gaming (including casino)2,239,9182,213,7022,183,2792,263,1872,211,8772,401,3914%
Betting (Real event)5,505,2344,695,3344,990,6944,923,9364,699,4344,881,497-5%
Betting (Virtual)225,982227,187230,173251,537230,137244,8646%
Poker261,652225,720246,347262,251248,470273,1123%

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.

Total number of bets placed per vertical
Q2Q3
July 2021August 2021September 2021October 2021November 2021December 2021% change from Q2 to Q3 2021
Slots5,906,110,1746,013,982,4405,685,998,1796,120,476,6865,672,738,7106,412,977,2183%
Other gaming (including casino)282,261,076292,255,536309,682,378335,585,894300,142,049324,600,7669%
Betting (Real event)252,139,493249,797,845255,004,323275,480,062249,659,453259,128,0984%
Betting (Virtual)13,387,29613,773,60712,675,37113,627,72612,846,30614,436,7453%
Poker75,808,71078,298,71373,685,70180,664,45379,780,50684,190,4327%

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.

Slots session length
Q2Q3
July 2021August 2021September 2021October 2021November 2021December 2021% change from Q2 to Q3 2021
Average session length (minutes)1920191919180
Sessions >1hr2,453,8482,492,2192,592,7592,762,3972,541,3102,836,8138%
Total number of sessions31,463,15231,527,07335,034,85837,187,66635,499,03041,527,21617%

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.

Gross Gambling Yield
Q2Q3
July 2021August 2021September 2021October 2021November 2021December 2021% change from Q2 to Q3 2021
Slots£187,235,663£192,475,115£182,038,985£189,963,814£177,900,355£200,186,6891%
Other gaming (including casino)£57,747,117£60,625,352£55,520,211£58,639,978£51,959,821£62,707,7250%
Betting (Real Event)£195,870,777£138,972,236£210,554,733£94,197,386£224,459,234£141,985,160-16%
Betting (Virtual)£6,081,398£5,718,477£5,308,322£5,819,079£5,311,675£6,125,6451%
Betting (eSports)£1,180,269£1,024,770£1,072,047£1,061,177£780,976£1,531,6623%
Poker£6,054,086£6,425,752£6,341,035£6,563,409£6,348,420£6,962,6446%
Other£1,261,615£1,356,636£1,016,368£1,177,844£1,023,542£996,520-12%

Licensed betting operator data

Please be mindful of the minor restrictions that were in place in Q3 as a result of the Omicron variant.

Table 5: Number of bets and or spins

Data from the biggest operators, covering approximately 85% of the retail betting market showing the number of bets/slips across available products.

Number of bets and or spins
Q2Q3
July 2021August 2021September 2021October 2021November 2021December 2021% change from Q2 to Q3 2021
Over the counter51,293,62652,071,52950,832,09453,071,00247,230,76845,680,029-5%
SSBT6,626,5737,917,3888,847,42510,035,8199,168,7598,937,95420%
Machines987,313,0031,031,496,2511,027,968,6211,094,992,3851,052,680,332996,137,8363%

Table 6: GGY

Data from the biggest operators, covering approximately 85% of the retail betting market showing GGY across available products.

GGY
Q2Q3
July 2021August 2021September 2021October 2021November 2021December 2021% change from Q2 to Q3 2021
Over the counter£58,331,908£57,703,230£67,718,072£61,129,368£54,679,516£50,613,897-9%
SSBT£24,799,273£18,752,437£33,656,785£18,481,765£37,635,859£26,694,5237%
Machines£88,845,343£93,420,043£93,189,823£99,266,591£94,779,707£90,080,5353%

Table 7: Machine sessions

Data from the biggest operators, covering approximately 85% of the retail betting market showing machines data.

Machine sessions
Q2Q3
July 2021August 2021September 2021October 2021November 2021December 2021% change from Q2 to Q3 2021
Total number of sessions7,809,0638,310,3288,302,6778,551,2228,174,5437,807,4180%
Number of sessions > 1hr216,495227,156223,661242,120235,022221,7125%

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.

Data and downloads

Files

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