Online Sports Betting In Britain Takes Off With the Return of Major Events

August 20, 2020

Sports betting saw a massive 115% jump from May to June thanks to the return of major sports in the UK. On Monday, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) released figures taken from the biggest operators in Britain, which show the gross gambling yield of real sporting events at a staggering £217.5m in June. Only one month before, the figures were £101.3m.

Other forms of digital betting such as online slots, online casino, virtual sports, and e-sports all fell over this same period, however, real sports wagering soared. Their figures showed that overall, 5.2% fewer bets were placed in June as opposed to May indicating that gamblers preferred to spend their budget on real sports. The biggest decline was seen in online poker, which was down by 36.3% with approximately 25% fewer online players. This drove the average online gambling session down by a full minute.

The COVID pandemic brought more stringent monitoring of problem gambling by the UKGC. There was a 12% increase in customer interaction from May to June, however only half of these interactions were with direct staff, the rest were not able to be monitored.