Statistics and research release
Gambling business data on gambling during coronavirus (COVID-19) May 2021 (published July 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 April and will restart collecting this data shortly. The full dataset from the earlier months of the pandemic is available in the Excel document.
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.
| December 2020 | January 2021 | February 2021 | March 2021 | April 2021 | May 2021 | % Change from April 2021 to May 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slots | 2,975,936 | 3,000,939 | 2,971,058 | 3,276,184 | 3,241,249 | 3,074,732 | -5% |
| Other gaming (including casino) | 2,122,875 | 2,131,321 | 1,943,868 | 2,194,757 | 2,175,055 | 2,164,539 | 0% |
| Betting (Real event) | 4,955,310 | 4,832,868 | 4,823,408 | 6,015,626 | 6,708,655 | 5,127,999 | -24% |
| Betting (Virtual) | 246,689 | 239,021 | 227,622 | 269,984 | 256,233 | 236,061 | -8% |
| Poker | 338,669 | 382,261 | 351,046 | 338,903 | 300,520 | 282,175 | -6% |
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.
| December 2020 | January 2021 | February 2021 | March 2021 | April 2021 | May 2021 | % Change from April 2021 to May 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slots | 5,893,170,607 | 5,868,553,027 | 5,504,664,429 | 6,159,504,899 | 6,068,410,824 | 6,165,375,276 | 2% |
| Other gaming (including casino) | 313,175,960 | 313,886,879 | 279,104,076 | 305,651,899 | 295,558,021 | 290,868,405 | -2% |
| Betting (Real event) | 293,042,135 | 301,081,387 | 296,906,794 | 375,179,182 | 344,317,080 | 299,821,964 | -13% |
| Betting (Virtual) | 17,444,643 | 17,812,994 | 16,415,134 | 18,399,418 | 17,077,927 | 15,422,841 | -10% |
| Poker | 110,945,805 | 131,403,728 | 121,773,855 | 116,471,757 | 94,675,061 | 86,661,426 | -8% |
Table 3: Slots 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.
| December 2020 | January 2021 | February 2021 | March 2021 | April 2021 | May 2021 | % Change from April 2021 to May 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average session length (minutes) | 22 | 21 | 22 | 21 | 20 | 21 | 1 |
| Sessions >1hr | 2,535,564 | 2,637,616 | 2,524,347 | 2,728,438 | 2,610,843 | 2,588,519 | -1% |
Table 4: Gross Gambling Yield2
Data from the biggest operators, covering approximately 80% of the online gambling market showing the GGY from each vertical.
| December 2020 | January 2021 | February 2021 | March 2021 | April 2021 | May 2021 | % Change from April 2021 to May 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slots | £199,747,383 | £193,887,006 | £176,884,970 | £202,921,192 | £202,022,041 | £211,201,838 | 5% |
| Other gaming (including casino) | £73,945,196 | £72,726,396 | £64,284,074 | £71,247,185 | £70,950,541 | £65,256,451 | -8% |
| Betting (Real event) | £319,600,149 | £279,753,688 | £263,863,756 | £250,567,294 | £267,393,328 | £238,777,783 | -11% |
| Betting (Virtual) | £7,946,792 | £7,894,519 | £7,121,871 | £8,408,173 | £7,621,729 | £7,234,843 | -5% |
| Betting (eSports) | £1,326,568 | £1,688,147 | £1,565,682 | £1,838,879 | £1,902,862 | £2,003,311 | 5% |
| Poker | £9,371,478 | £10,614,669 | £9,298,371 | £9,215,691 | £8,390,140 | £7,309,658 | -13% |
| Other | £1,706,035 | £1,747,570 | £2,159,197 | £2,087,213 | £1,993,048 | £1,652,572 | -17% |
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
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Feedback
We are always keen to hear how these statistics are used and would welcome your views on this publication.