During the third quarter of 2024, UK gaming’s online gambling yield increased by 21% to £1.54 billion.
The GGY number leads the latest update of operator information issued by the UK gaming Commission (UKGC), which tracks trends in online gaming by sector in the UK.
The research represents data acquired from the UK’s top gaming licensees, which account for 80% of the online gambling market, and shows the number of active players in each vertical.
When compared to year-on-year figures, records show a new high in total bets/spins, with online wagering reaching a record £25.9 billion. Peak wagering occurred, but the average monthly active accounts in the quarter increased by 1%.
Q3 2024’s surge in online gambling GGY represents a 38% YoY increase in online’real event’ betting, hitting £647 million (Q3 2023: £593 million).
Online betting GGY in Q3 2024 achieved its best yield since the ‘COVID-inflated’ period of Q2 2021, when it earned a yield of £752 million.
The Commission notes that the inflated online betting GGY is due to bookmaker-friendly outcomes obtained in the time, as “the number of bets decreased by 7%, whilst the average monthly active accounts decreased by 3% compared to the same quarter last year.”
Q3 data comparisons on betting wagers include £853 million in 2024 versus £915 million in 2023, and total betting actives of 16.3 million players in 2024 vs 16.9 million players in 2023.
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Online slots reach new highs with categorization
In the online casino market, Q3 online slots hit a ‘new high’ of £709 million, up 13% from £618 million in Q3 of 2023.
Of note, online slots achieved a record high of £23.9 billion wagered, while the number of average active accounts in the market increased by 10% to 4.4 million.
The month of December 2024 saw a high level of activity, with 4.6 million active accounts wagering a total of £8.3 billion.
The Commission stated that the GGY rise in slots is due to reclassified items entering the slots vertical during the quarter, which had an influence on data entry.
Further statistics on slots shows that the number of spins per session has decreased from 151 to 145 year on year, while the GGY per session has decreased from £4.10 to £4.13 during the same timeframe.
Other online divisions, such as ‘gaming (including casino)’, maintained a monthly consistency of average active accounts at 2.5 million players, achieving a Q3 GGY of £152 million (1% increase over 2023 comparatives).
Online Safer Gambling Indicators
The number of online slot sessions that lasted more than an hour increased by 6% year on year, to 107 million. Meanwhile, the overall number of sessions increased by 13% during the same time, reaching 170 million.
According to the Commission, around 6% of all sessions lasted more than an hour during the quarter, up from 7% in the previous year’s third quarter. Furthermore, the average session duration rose to 18 minutes.
During the third quarter, the overall number of client encounters increased by 23% year on year, to 3.5 million, with the majority remaining automated. Direct interactions between operators in this dataset grew by 12% year on year.
Some operators improved their markers of damage algorithms in Quarter 4 (2023-2024), resulting in a larger number of interactions this quarter.
UKGC Continues Data-First Approach
The UKGC maintains its disclaimer to academics regarding databases tracking gambling activities, stating: “Comparisons should not be made with the industry statistics dataset, as this dataset may include free bets and bonuses and does not include data from all operators.”
Moving forward, the Commission is now evaluating the categorization of certain items, which will result in revisions to some data across verticals; nevertheless, this should have no effect on overall totals.
As a regulatory goal, the Commission continues to prioritize and restructure its data collection for UK gaming, offering clear information and resources to stakeholders.
Key projects include the UKGC spearheading the monitoring of gambling habits and prevalence through the new structure of the Gambling study of Great Britain (GSGB), which is recognized as the largest study on gambling behaviours done by a regulatory authority, with 20,000 participants.
Last week, the Commission released fresh findings on gambling motives, which were judged “critical for researchers to comprehend both general gambling behaviours and their consequences.”
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