UK Gambling Market Up 6.8% in FY2023 with the Landbased Sector Leading the Way
Posted on 01 December 2023 in General
Gambling Commission Reports 20.6% YoY Surge in Landbased Gaming with Online Lagging Behind at 2.8%
The UK Gambling Commission released its annual gambling market statistics for the fiscal year to 31 March 2023, with total GGY of £15.1bn, up 6.8% year on year and up 6.6% increase on the last pre-lockdown period of April 2019 to March 2020. Excluding lotteries, total betting and gaming GGY came in at £10.9bn, up 9.3% year on year and up 7.6% compared to the pre-covid period.
The growth has been driven by a continued recovery in the land-based segment, with GGY of £4.5bn up 20.6% year on year and flat against the pre-covid period. However, the number of betting shops continues to decline, with 5,995 betting shops down 3.9% year on year and down 22% compared to pre-covid comps.
In terms of the online market, total GGY of £6.5bn was up 2.8% year on year (versus April 2021 to March 2022) and up 13.3% against the pre-covid period (April 2019 to March 2020).
We note that the Gambling Commission has also revised its data for FY21 and FY22, along with the FY23 data release. In terms of the FY23 data, the biggest differential versus H2’s estimates is a stronger than anticipated recovery in land-based gaming machines (outside of casinos), with gross win of £2.61bn up 26% year on year (H2 estimate was up 20% year on year) – however the FY22 base also increased by £272m compared to the prior Gambling Commission data. H2 has added the revised FY21 and FY 22 data to the United Kingdom model, along with the newly published FY23 data, however we will be doing a deeper-dive analysis on the market and refining our future forecasts in the coming days.
