Statistics and research release
Gambling business data on gambling during coronavirus (COVID-19) August 2020 (published October 2020)
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 data1
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 | % change from July 2020 to August 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slots | 2,095,824 | 2,618,165 | 2,559,242 | 2,443,130 | 2,458,305 | 2,473,813 | 2,421,090 | -2% |
| 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 | -5% |
| Betting (Real event) | 5,200,165 | 4,635,552 | 2,073,998 | 2,349,895 | 4,041,427 | 4,193,052 | 3,788,158 | -10% |
| Betting (Virtual) | 206,664 | 388,786 | 558,067 | 287,777 | 244,219 | 224,054 | 203,565 | -9% |
| Poker | 266,294 | 408,316 | 626,304 | 557,317 | 418,260 | 350,541 | 314,315 | -10% |
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 | % change from July 2020 to August 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | -1% |
| 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 | -10% |
| Betting (Real event) | 276,386,174 | 191,807,193 | 65,052,055 | 104,043,293 | 255,476,612 | 267,219,421 | 235,869,169 | -12% |
| Betting (Virtual) | 14,813,552 | 20,758,180 | 28,493,528 | 24,397,134 | 19,383,209 | 16,784,887 | 14,851,336 | -12% |
| Poker | 96,202,170 | 133,078,469 | 226,548,896 | 202,073,092 | 138,712,018 | 108,472,238 | 100,713,906 | -7% |
Table 3: Session length
Data from the biggest operators, covering approximately 80% of the online gambling market showing average 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 | % change from July 2020 to August 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average session length (minutes) | 26 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 0 |
| Sessions >1hr | 1,573,926 | 1,923,646 | 2,274,521 | 2,327,818 | 2,215,931 | 2,181,919 | 2,030,110 | -7% |
Table 4: Gross Gambling Yield1
Data from the biggest operators, covering approximately 80% of the online gambling market showing the 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 | % change from July 2020 to August 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slots | £162,345,550 | £186,659,624 | £169,033,423 | £184,276,776 | £166,468,891 | £162,877,179 | £164,133,547 | 1% |
| 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 | -10% |
| Betting (Real event) | £85,516,233 | £160,950,242 | £61,938,466 | £101,352,941 | £217,468,648 | £209,302,808 | £164,416,560 | -21% |
| Betting (Virtual) | £6,618,687 | £9,063,796 | £12,818,108 | £11,276,994 | £9,560,200 | £7,963,419 | £6,682,074 | -16% |
| Betting (eSports) | £50,223 | £1,517,548 | £3,393,637 | £4,616,610 | £3,472,951 | £2,591,106 | £1,826,930 | -29% |
| Poker | £8,070,102 | £12,069,504 | £20,068,939 | £18,335,269 | £11,675,197 | £9,023,180 | £8,345,509 | -8% |
| Other | £4,965,236 | £4,684,760 | £1,783,987 | £1,815,272 | £1,760,994 | £1,351,716 | £1,232,589 | -9% |
Licensed betting operator data
Absolute values are not directly comparable between these periods for several reasons including:
- Retail not in operation for a full month in March and June
- Phased openings; times and premises
- Local restrictions
- Impact of restrictions on other retail gambling sectors
Please be mindful of the date ranges in the tables below, where the 2020 periods cover a different number of days each time to reflect times premises were open.
Table 5: Number of bets/spins
Data from the biggest operators, covering approximately 85% of the retail betting market showing the number of bets/slips across available products.
| 15-30 June 2019 | 1-23 March 2020 | 15-30 June 2020 | 1-31 July 2020 | 1-31 August 2020 | % change from July 2020 to August 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Over the counter | 35,272,619 | 37,441,423 | 15,475,557 | 57,115,911 | 59,884,966 | 5% |
| SSBT | 3,887,440 | 5,604,738 | 2,630,472 | 7,155,888 | 7,194,518 | 1% |
| Machines | 627,616,390 | 771,662,386 | 490,568,791 | 981,232,162 | 958,046,182 | -2% |
Table 6: GGY
Data from the biggest operators, covering approximately 85% of the retail betting market showing GGY across available products.
| 15-30 June 2019 | 1-23 March 2020 | 15-30 June 2020 | 1-31 July 2020 | 1-31 August 2020 | % change from July 2020 to August 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Over the counter | £45,627,400 | £48,830,471 | £21,458,870 | £62,491,387 | £71,204,098 | 14% |
| SSBT | £9,531,445 | £15,971,095 | £9,632,832 | £23,150,370 | £16,368,805 | -29% |
| Machines | £45,067,634 | £59,453,732 | £41,571,866 | £81,635,461 | £79,939,968 | -2% |
Table 7: Machine sessions
Data from the biggest operators, covering approximately 85% of the retail betting market showing machines data.
| 15-30 June 2019 | 1-23 March 2020 | 15-30 June 2020 | 1-31 July 2020 | 1-31 August 2020 | % change from July 2020 to August 2020 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total number of sessions | 5,915,334 | 6,815,675 | 3,462,297 | 7,762,246 | 7,670,923 | -1% |
| number of sessions >1hr | 160,694 | 168,911 | 121,497 | 247,394 | 223,118 | -10% |
Notes
1 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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