What Does the 80% Growth in UK Online Gambling Mean?

The online gambling industry has been abuzz with the news over the last few days stating that there has been an 80% increase in UK online gambling revenue since 2008. The figures show that the online gambling industry in the UK was worth an incredible £2 billion in 2012, compared to £1.27 billion in 2008. The increase has been put down to several factors; notably the increase in mobile gambling technology, the increase in online casinos and the wide variety of sports betting events which have taken place in the last several years.

Where Have The Increases Been Seen? 

Sports Betting: Up 102%. Sports’ betting still dominates the industry, making up 44% of the overall revenue, an increase undoubtedly due to the advances in mobile phone and online betting platforms in the last two years.

Online Casinos: Up 79%. With the second biggest market share, the last several years has seen a flood of new online casinos, on computers, tablets and mobile phone devices.

Online Bingo: Up 155%. Worth 17% of the market, this huge increase will have been aided by the closure of a lot of land based bingo halls which has sent their players to online platforms.

Online Poker: Up 8%. A smaller increase, but this means that online poker contains 15% of the online gambling market in the UK, its smaller percentage possibly due to the game being harder to master.

Is This Good News For the UK? 

Well, yes, for the UK online gambling industry it is excellent news, as it shows the industry is still developing and profiting. However, there have been estimates made by analysts that the UK Government has missed out on a whopping £2.1 billion in revenue since setting the tax rate at 15%, by effectively forcing UK based gaming companies out of the country.

Many companies, such as William Hill (who command a 15% share of the overall market), have since moved their operations offshore to take advantage of more flexible tax rates, which has meant a huge loss of revenue for the UK, in terms of corporation taxes, income tax and National Insurance payments to name but a few revenue sources. You can read an independant review of William Hill Casino here.

Ian Burke, the CEO of the Rank Group, has hit out at politicians in the UK who consistently take a derogatory view of the online casino and gambling industry, and was recently quoted as saying the politicians’ negative statements with regards to casinos are confusing for the public. Burke stated that the way people gamble has changed, and the heavy restrictions and responsibilities held by online gambling companies today mean people gamble responsibly and overall, simply for fun.

The poor relationship between the online gambling industry and UK government is now be being tackled head on, as there are currently discussing to reduce the tax rate to tempt back some of these big, profitable employers (see here for more). For the UK Government – who are currently under fire for public and social cuts being made – it seems that by adjusting their attitude to the strictly regulated world of online gambling they could easily boost their ailing coffers. By modernising their old fashioned attitudes to online gambling, and start seeing it as the thriving, profitable industry that it is, why shouldn’t the UK economy benefit from this amazing growth too?