Statistics and research release
Market overview - operator data June 2021 (published August 2021)
An overview of the data provided by gambling operators up to June 2021.
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 COVID-19 data release, which contains corrected data.
Details
Operator Data
The Gambling Commission has published data for June 2021, with the dataset collected since March 2020 showing online gambling behaviour has changed over the period.
In June, full relaxation of lockdown restrictions was postponed by a further four weeks. Casinos, arcades, and bingo premises re-opened from 17 May.
June also marked the start of the delayed 2020 Euros tournament which commenced 11 June. This type of event has the tendency to attract a recreational player base.
Operators still need to be mindful about the potential of some consumers to be increasing their spend on some of the more intensive products while at the same time still engaging in real event betting activity.
Please note that given the lockdown restrictions and retail premises only being allowed to open from 12 April, we did not request data from LBOs again in June. We will restart collecting, analysing and publishing this data shortly.
Online gambling
The online gambling data, collected from the largest online operators, now covers the months March 2020 through to June 2021.
Year-on-year comparisons are not advised due to the differing circumstances affecting both years. For example, retail was in operation until 20 March in 2020, but fully closed in March 2021.
Despite strong real event margins again this month, total GGY decreased by 7% (to just over £496m) between May and June.
The overall number of total bets/spins decreased 10% from May to June, while the number of active playersi increased by 4%.
We will continue to collect and monitor the data to inform our views of risk.
Online real event betting
Online real event betting GGY increased 1% between May and June, to just over £242m. The number of bets decreased (9%) while active players (9%) increased between May and June, potentially reflecting recreational players joining the market to participate in the 2020 Euros which started 11 June.
Online slots
Slots GGY decreased 14% to just below £181m between May and June. The number of active players increased 1% to over 3m, while number of spins decreased 10% to nearly 5.6bn.
Safer gambling indicators
The number of online slots sessions lasting longer than an hour decreased by 9% to just above 2.3m between May and June. The average session length decreased to 19 minutes, with 8% of all sessions lasting in excess of one hour during June.
The number of customer interactions in June decreased 8% to under 1m, with the majority remaining automated in natureii. The number of direct interactions undertaken by operators decreased by 10%.
Notes
i This is the total number of times activity has taken place across all verticals; therefore, an active account may be counted more than once.
ii Some operators may have revised their algorithms.
Data and downloads
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Feedback
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