UK Online Sector Reports a 7% Decline in Gross Gambling Yield in June

The Gambling Commission of Great Britain has published gross gambling yield (GGY) results for June 2021, based on data collected from the biggest operators in the UK online industry.

The report indicates a slow month for online operators in the UK market as the industry reported a combined GGY of £496.1 million. The figure, which is the lowest posted by the market since November 2020, shows a 7% month-on-month decline in overall revenue when compared to the £533.4 million reported in May.

Nearly half of the total hold came from real event or sports betting, with British bookmakers reporting a combined GGY of £242.2 million in June. The total revenue generated by the vertical in May was £238.8 million, indicating a slight increase of 1.4% month-on-month.

The figures also show that the number of active sports bettors was up 9% to 5.6 million during the month, which can be attributed to the start of the Euro 2020 games on June 11. However, the total number of sports bets processed by regulated bookies went down from 299.8 million in May to 272.6 million in June, translating to a 9.1% decrease.

Slots and Casino Gaming Action Down in June

Of the total revenue posted in June, £180.7 million came from online slots machines, down from £211.2 million in the month prior. The numbers show a 14.4% dip in slots revenue during the month.

When it comes to the number of active slots players, there were 3.1 million active players in June, up 1% from 3.07 million in May.

However, just like with sports betting, there was a decline in the number of bets placed on slots during the month. The total number of bets reported for the vertical was 5.6 billion in June, translating to a 9.7% decline month-on-month when compared to the 6.2 billion handled in May.

The number of slots sessions longer than 1 hour also declined by 9%, while the average length of a slots session was down to 19 minutes from 21 minutes in May.

Other casino gaming activities brought in approximately £59 million, down from £65.2 million in the previous month. In the same breath, the number of wagers registered by the vertical dipped by 8% to 267 million in June, although the number of active players partaking in these activities was up by 2%.

The revenue generated by poker also fell to £5.9 million from £7.3 million in May, showing a decrease of 19.2%.

Esports Betting Revenue Drops by 50%

The GGY report published by the UK regulator indicates that the revenue generated by esports betting plummeted by approximately 50% in June. The vertical, which has been showing steady growth since the beginning of the year, reported a GGY of £1 million in June, down from £2 million in the previous month.

The figure is by far the lowest reported for the market in 2021.

The GGY posted by virtual betting was also down to £5.9 million in June, indicating a 18.1% decrease from May’s £7.2 million.