According to data from the UK gaming Commission, the gaming sector had a notable uptick in the third quarter of 2024. One significant factor was online gambling, as the Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) reached a new high of £1.54 billion ($1.91 billion), up 21% from the previous year.
Online Slots and Real Event Betting Lead the Charge
With GGY increasing 15% to £709 million, online slots were a major factor in the sector’s expansion. A 9% rise in spins, reaching 23.9 billion, coincided with this spike in online slots. Notably, sessions longer than an hour increased 6% to 10.4 million, while the average slot session length also increased to 18 minutes.
Notwithstanding these striking numbers, the data was impacted by changes to operator categories, especially in the slots sector. The stated figures for this category were impacted by one operator’s reclassification of certain of its goods.
In GGY, real event betting saw an even greater 38% surge, hitting £647 million, the most since Q2 2021. Nonetheless, there were 3% fewer active accounts and 7% fewer bets. This implies that successful bookmaker outcomes contributed to the revenue increase.
In the brick-and-mortar sector, betting shops saw a 5% increase in GGY, totaling £592 million. Despite this, the number of bets fell by 4%, indicating a mixed performance across the industry.
Self-Service Betting Terminals (SSBT) saw the most significant growth, with GGY jumping 32% to £153 million, a new record for this category. On the other hand, machine gaming faced challenges, with GGY slipping 5% to £280 million.
The Gambling Commission also reported an uptick in player interactions related to safer gambling practices, with interactions growing 23% year-over-year. Despite this, there are concerns about potential problem gambling trends, especially regarding machine gaming sessions that last over an hour. In Q3 2024, 2.73% of machine gaming sessions exceeded an hour, up from 2.48% the previous year.
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