UK Slots Income is the Lowest since the Pandemic Began
UK online gamblers gave up playing poker in September when sports betting flared up with Premier League football resuming.
Figures published Thursday by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) indicate true event betting was the only big vertical gaming showing an rise in sales from August to September, with the return of top flight football driving betting income up 15% to £189.6 million. The number of committed bettors grew 14% month-to-month while the overall number of bets just increased 5%.
Online slots, the Loki of online gaming's Marvel universe, saw more players making less bets, as active player ranks rose 6% from August to September, while overall slot bets and operator sales also fell 4%. In fact, the lowest monthly amount since the UKGC launched its pandemic market watch in April was the slots revenue of £157m in September.
Non-slot casino income dropped 5% amid a 2% rise in the overall number of bets. The number of professional casino gamblers declined by 4%, which means the lack of casino dilettantes left the more dedicated players to shoulder the challenge. Market-wide, the sports turnaround resulted in the share of gamblers who wagered on more than one operation declining from 41% in April to 32% in September.
Online poker's short revival pandemic is genuinely toasty, with vertical reports around the board decreasing income (-5%), engaged players (-6%) and bet number (-13%) in September. About the same trend extended to virtual betting revenue (-9%) and bet amount (-8%) despite virtual active persons remaining approximately unchanged.
September marked the second full month since spring shutdown of retail betting operations and complete show of customer skittishness over face-to-face contact. Although the number of over-the-counter bets increased by 3% from August to September, bets with self-service betting terminals increased by 24% - while OTC wagers still outweigh SSBT bets by a factor of six - and computer gaming in-shop recorded a 7% rise.
