Published by the Gambling Commission, the Q3 figures provide valuable insights into gambling activity in Great Britain.
Quarterly data has been regularly posted every three months since March 2020, with the latest figures covering the three months to December 31, 2023.
In Q3, the overall GGY stands out as the headline figure, driven by notable growth in slots and real event betting.
Record-breaking slots GGY in Q3, reaching £618m, reflects slots’ position as the leading driver of GGY in Britain. This figure represents a 6% increase compared to the previous year, marking the highest quarterly total to date. In the same period, the total number of spins rose by 11% to nearly 22 billion, and average monthly active accounts increased by 8% to four million.
Despite a 3% decrease in the number of bets and active accounts, real-event betting also saw a 5% YoY increase in GGY, reaching £468m. The Commission attributes this growth to Q3 hosting the Fifa World Cup in 2022.
Other sources of GGY in Q3 include online casino (£159.7m), virtual betting (£12.0m), esports betting (£2.4m), casino (£17.6m), and poker (£2.0m).
In the land-based gambling market, Q3 witnessed mixed results. Machines accounted for the largest GGY at £293m, but this figure was 3% lower than the previous year. The average spend per session decreased by 1% to £12.41, and the average number of spins per session dropped to 131. Over-the-counter GGY decreased by 3% to £153m, paralleled by a 3% decline in the number of bets to 135 million. The Commission notes that these figures represent the lowest recorded numbers since venues fully reopened for an entire quarter. On a positive note, self-service betting terminals (SSBTs) saw a 17% increase in GGY to reach £116m, and the number of SSBT bets rose by 10% to 39 million, the highest recorded quarter to date.
Alongside GGY, the Commission also released data on safer gambling indicators for Q3. The number of online slots sessions lasting longer than an hour increased by 3% to 9.8 million, the highest quarterly figure since data collection began. Total sessions were up by 7%, while the average session length decreased to 17 minutes. Customer interactions decreased by 2% to 2.9 million, with the majority being automated. The number of direct interactions conducted by operators included in this dataset witnessed a 10% YoY decline. For the land-based market, sessions lasting more than one hour accounted for 2%, down from 3% in 2022.
