- 152 casinos operating in the UK
- £4.5 billion gambled through online last year
- £2.01 billion spent on slots online last year
Recent studies conducted by the UK’s government agency responsible for supervision and regulation of gaming legalities, the Gambling Commission, have showed that from April 2017 to March 2018, 152 casinos were in operation in Great Britain. This figure spanned the length of the country, the breakdown by region listed as follows:
- Scotland – 16 casinos
- North – 43 casinos
- Midlands and Wales – 37 casinos
- South – 30 casinos
- London high end – 5 casinos
- Other London – 21 casinos
Of these 152 casinos, two organisations stick out as main contributors for this; these being Rank Group and Genting UK, in which stats have shown a collective ownership of 72% of casinos throughout the country. In September 2018, Rank Group was accounted for 67 of the 152 casinos across the UK, with Genting UK accounting for 43. Other categories within these results included Caesars Entertainment, owning 9 of the 152, and a group classed as “Other operators” owning 33 casinos from this total.
Online Casinos
Although the Gambling Commission’s results were not as specific for Remote Casinos (using remote communication, e.g. online or telephone) as the brick and mortar casino stats listed above, they did yield some interesting results. These included a total GGY (gross gambling yield) of £4.5 billion, increasing 13.7% from the study’s previous year of 2016 to 2017, representing a considerable 37% of the gambling industry’s total GGY. In addition to this, below is a breakdown of the games contributing to these results:
- Slots – £2.01 billion
- Roulette – £106.62 million
- Blackjack – £52.33 million
- Poker – £107.09 million
- Card game – £154.49 million
- Other – £219.25 million
- Table Game – £311.08 million
According to statistics, the most popular for customers is online slot games which generated the highest gambling yield last year, making up almost 50% of the full gambling yield. This was followed by roulette and blackjack.
The History of Gambling in the UK
Gambling has been a thriving business sector of the United Kingdom, leaving its mark on the country through centuries of a rich and exciting history. With its presence dating back to before Roman occupation, the UK has seen a long journey for the gambling industry; from class systems segregating different types of gambling to the authorisation of a national lottery in 1694 that followed previous sanctions granted by both Queen Elizabeth I and Charles I.
It was during the 20th Century however where the UK gambling industry started to flourish, with the 1961 Betting and Gaming Act welcoming in the first certified casinos into the country. The first of these to hit the capital city was the Clermont Club in London, (1962) started by John Aspinal. Although now in the process of being shut down, the casino retained its legendary status throughout its opening years, popular with Hollywood stars, members of the government and Princess Margaret to name a few.
It was therefore since the 1961 Betting and Gaming Act that gambling in the UK started to properly develop, and has led us to the rich and booming industry we see today. With the UK’s total gross gambling yield (GGY) at an astounding £14.4 billion from 2017 to 2018, increasing 4.5% from the previous year. It is safe to say that the gambling sector has taken the UK by storm, and poses the question that with such a high GGY, how many gambling companies are out there contributing to this?
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