In the UK, the use of sports betting is slowly increasing again. According to the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), football is proving to be the driving force in the industry.
According to the UKGC, gross earnings from betting on real sporting events increased by 64% in May compared to April. At that time, they had plummeted 62% compared to March. The restarts of the major European football leagues are responsible for the increase.
The UKGC also emphasized that the number of players had not increased proportionally to sales. This suggests that the players have bet higher amounts.
At the same time, the attractiveness of virtual sports betting has recently decreased, according to the UKGC. These would have increased by 41% between March and April of this year, but would decrease again by 12% by May.
The situation is similar in casino online poker, where the numbers rose 66% in the period from March to April. But even at the digital poker table, sales have since dropped by 9%.
Analysis based on sales data and surveys
The UKGC is based on data from the British market research institute YouGov. These were collected as part of a survey of the UK’s leading gaming companies, which cover approximately 80% of the market. YouGov also surveyed around 2,000 representative British people about their gaming behavior in April, May and June.
In parallel with the UKGC’s assessment, the Savanta market research agency has collected data on the general physical and mental health of British citizens. According to this, 25% of the respondents indicated that their health was negatively affected by the Covid 19 pandemic. Due to the initial restrictions, 26% also suffered from loneliness at least temporarily, while 40% stated that they had less income at their disposal.
According to YouGov, people with an increased propensity to gamble used the time during the lockdown to increase media usage. According to this, 17% of players (average: 13%) generally spent more money on online entertainment. In addition, 50% of them watched television (compared to 42%) more and 48% (40%) were customers of streaming services.