The British Gambling Commission has released UK betting industry statistics for the financial year April 2022 to March 2023.
Total gross gaming revenue (GGY) across all sectors was £15.1 billion, an increase of 6.8% year-on-year and 6.6% from 2019-2020.
Removing the lottery, GGY rose 9.3% year-on-year and 7.6% year-on-year to 2020 to £10.9 billion.
Bets already reach pre-pandemic levels
Although online gambling continued to generate the largest proportion of revenue, at £6.5 billion, it only increased by 2.8% year on year.
The number increased by 13.3% compared to April 2019 – March 2020. However, the big driver of growth in the last financial year was the recovery of land-based gaming following the end of restriction measures.
Physical gaming revenue rose 20% year-on-year to £4.5 billion. The figure increased by 0.2% compared to pre-pandemic levels and represented 41% of all UK gambling revenue, up from 35% in 2021-2022.
Therefore, revenue increased by 23% to £2.4 billion, an increase of 17.9% compared to 2019-2020.
The recovery in gross revenue from physical gambling comes despite a drop in the number of regulated physical gambling venues. Several major brands have closed facilities amid the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The number of retail betting shops fell to 5,995, which is 1,386 fewer than before the pandemic, but retail betting increased by 2.5% between 2019 and 2020 and 15.4% between 2021 and 2022.
Lottery tickets are also featured
However, not all revenue from the physical game has been recovered. Land-based casinos generated £810.4m, an increase of 17.2% year-on-year. But a 20.4% drop below 2019-2020.
Finally, National Lottery ticket sales reached £8.2 billion. This was a 1.1% increase from the previous year.
Additionally, the Gambling Commission has opened its second round of consultations following the publication of the UK government’s new gambling legislation. There are consultancies in five areas for a period of 12 weeks, until February 21, 2024.
