According to the latest stats published by the UK Gambling Commission, UK gamblers bet a massive £14.5 billion last year. Yes, you read that correctly — that's billion, not million.
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That figure includes the gross gaming revenue across multiple sectors, including both online and offline gambling. After reading the summary of this latest report, I began to wonder, 'What type of gambling is most popular in the UK?'
I had an intuitive feeling that sports bettors would be the biggest group. However, I wasn't so sure about which group bet the most money. So, I dug into the data, and here's what I found regarding which type of gambling is most popular in the UK. This is a breakdown of gambling in the UK by the numbers.
Some Headline Findings
Before breaking the industry down section by section and finding out which type of British gambler bets the most, I dug into the infrastructure of the UK gambling industry. Here are some key stats.
- There are 8,423 betting shops across the UK. Brands like William Hill and Ladbrokes dominate the landscape in all four countries.
- There are 183,813 gaming machines in the UK. That includes fruit machines in pubs and any other type of gaming machine which requires a UKGC license to operate.
- There are 152 casinos in Britain. This includes big franchises like Genting, world-famous casinos like The Hippodrome, and small-time operators all over the country.
- There are 650 bingo halls all over the UK. That number is up 1.1% from the previous year despite the rise of online bingo.
- There are 1,639 licensed arcades in the UK. These even exist in places like Northern Ireland, where casinos are still illegal for now.
- In total, including all of the above, there are 2,757 operators licensed by the UK Gambling Commission.
Phew! That's a lot of places to make a wager, whatever kind it may be. A quick calculation tells us that there's one betting shop for every 7,832 people in the country. I suppose that likely equates to one in each town of any significant population, and lots clustered in major cities like London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast. However, there's only one casino per 434,472 people, and they're virtually nonexistent outside of medium and large-sized cities.
All of these establishments provide 106,670 jobs for UK citizens. Newspapers often overlook this side of gambling when they report all the doom and gloom of gambling. It's a mega-industry in this country, and to either cripple it or shut it down would be extremely foolish from an economic point of view.
After understanding this, I was feeling fairly good about my prediction regarding which type of gambling is most popular in the UK. I initially thought sports bettors made up the biggest sector. My logic told me that there couldn't be this many betting shops unless the demand was there.
What Does the Money Say?
The first thing I'm certain of is that more and more money is migrating online. When you consider that the average age of a UK resident is 40 and that the number of UK gambling sites is increasing exponentially, it isn't difficult to understand what direction this industry is heading.
I looked at the revenue by sector, and here's what I found.
- Betting accounted for £8.42 billion in revenue and £1.37 billion in yield.
- Bingo generated £1.01 billion in revenue and 355.28 million in yield.
- There is no revenue figure for casinos, but the yield was £1.07 billion.
Of this, remote betting generated a total of £115,456 million. Here's a quick breakdown of the sector-by-sector numbers.
- Remote betting generated £26.79 million.
- Remote bingo generated £1.54 million.
- Casino gaming generated £87.01 million.
- Pool betting brought in £99.48 million.
While it bugs me that I couldn't find an exact revenue figure for casino gaming, it's clear from this data that sports betting is indeed the biggest gambling sector in the UK. That's true, at least when it comes to profits for operators and the number of locations to bet. However, there isn't much in it. If I had to guess, I'd say that casino games generate more revenue, even if the profit is a little lower.
What did I learn about online gambling? It isn't yet as big as I thought it was, and there's still lots of room for growth. However, I'm sure the numbers are a lot bigger than this when gambling sites without UKGC licences are factored in.
Other Interesting Stats and Facts
While digging around in the UKGC's data, I decided to let my curiosity take me wherever it wanted. Here are some other interesting facts I learned about gambling in the UK.
- The National Lottery generated £2.99 billion in profits and contributed £1.5 billion to good causes. This is more profit than the other three forms of gambling combined.
- In terms of the total number of machines across the UK, bingo is the winner. There are 74,692 bingo machines. There are 33,324 betting machines, and 3,305 machines offering casino games.
- Of the £8.42 billion generated by betting, only £257.52 million of that was on-course betting.
- Of the big-name betting shops, William Hill has the most premises. There are 2,282 William Hill betting shops in the UK. The runner-up is Ladbrokes with 1,849 betting shops.
- There are 846 roulette tables, 545 blackjack tables, and 172 baccarat tables in UK casinos. There are 3,783 electronic gaming machines.
Conclusion
When we consider all forms of UK gambling, the National Lottery is the biggest of the lot. It's staggering to think that the lotto made more profits than all of the others combined. Then again, every newsagent and filling station in the country sells tickets, and it's not even considered 'gambling proper' by most people, so it's much more socially acceptable.
When it comes to the three main 'gambling proper' sectors, sports betting is the biggest of the lot. However, casino gaming isn't far behind it in terms of profitability. While no exact revenue figures are available, I'm fairly sure that casino gaming generates more in terms of sheer cash.
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Ultimately, UK gambling is massive, and while responsible operators are scaling back on TV ads, I predict that it won't lead to any dramatic fall in revenue. The UK is gambling-crazy, and that's a fact that will remain true no matter how the figures reported here change in the months and years to come!
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Welcome to the most trusted UK gambling resource online. We created this
website because we were tired of visiting gambling sites packed with flashing
ads and banners which offered nothing but rubbish and no real
value. We decided to create a list of the best UK gambling sites, but also
provide lots of useful, educational material on betting, casino games,
strategies, and the latest sports betting tips.
How are we able to provide such excellent content? That's down to our team.
We have specialists in each and every area, including sports savants, betting
pros, casino enthusiasts, and semi-pro poker players. The difference between us
and our competitors is down to real-world experience. We're not
a few university students who put together a football blog and added a few
banners on the page. We've used only the best online gambling sites for decades,
so it's safe to say we know what we're doing.
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UK Gambling Sites by Region
The United Kingdom may be four countries operating as one political union, but many gambling sites ignore the differences between them. For example, if you ask an Englishman to name the top UK bookmakers, you're likely to get different answers than if you ask a punter from Northern Ireland.
We understand these differences, and that's why we've categorized these UK gambling sites by region. Our chief editor has hand-picked the best betting sites for English, Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish gamblers. These sites offer sports betting, casino games, poker, and bingo. Go ahead and click your country to view the best gambling sites it has to offer.
As you'll see, there's no shortage of world-class bookmakers to choose from. That's no surprise. UK punters spent approximately £14.4 billion on gambling online in 2018 alone. The best gambling operators in the world are in the online market because they want a piece of that pie!
Online Gambling Laws in the United Kingdom
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One of the best things about the UK gambling industry is that it's legal,
regulated and controlled. This leads to a cleaner, safer gambling industry which
generates billions in tax revenue.
While there is some variation in land-based UK gambling laws (for example,
casinos are illegal in Northern Ireland), online gambling is a different story.
I looked at the revenue by sector, and here's what I found.
- Betting accounted for £8.42 billion in revenue and £1.37 billion in yield.
- Bingo generated £1.01 billion in revenue and 355.28 million in yield.
- There is no revenue figure for casinos, but the yield was £1.07 billion.
Of this, remote betting generated a total of £115,456 million. Here's a quick breakdown of the sector-by-sector numbers.
- Remote betting generated £26.79 million.
- Remote bingo generated £1.54 million.
- Casino gaming generated £87.01 million.
- Pool betting brought in £99.48 million.
While it bugs me that I couldn't find an exact revenue figure for casino gaming, it's clear from this data that sports betting is indeed the biggest gambling sector in the UK. That's true, at least when it comes to profits for operators and the number of locations to bet. However, there isn't much in it. If I had to guess, I'd say that casino games generate more revenue, even if the profit is a little lower.
What did I learn about online gambling? It isn't yet as big as I thought it was, and there's still lots of room for growth. However, I'm sure the numbers are a lot bigger than this when gambling sites without UKGC licences are factored in.
Other Interesting Stats and Facts
While digging around in the UKGC's data, I decided to let my curiosity take me wherever it wanted. Here are some other interesting facts I learned about gambling in the UK.
- The National Lottery generated £2.99 billion in profits and contributed £1.5 billion to good causes. This is more profit than the other three forms of gambling combined.
- In terms of the total number of machines across the UK, bingo is the winner. There are 74,692 bingo machines. There are 33,324 betting machines, and 3,305 machines offering casino games.
- Of the £8.42 billion generated by betting, only £257.52 million of that was on-course betting.
- Of the big-name betting shops, William Hill has the most premises. There are 2,282 William Hill betting shops in the UK. The runner-up is Ladbrokes with 1,849 betting shops.
- There are 846 roulette tables, 545 blackjack tables, and 172 baccarat tables in UK casinos. There are 3,783 electronic gaming machines.
Conclusion
When we consider all forms of UK gambling, the National Lottery is the biggest of the lot. It's staggering to think that the lotto made more profits than all of the others combined. Then again, every newsagent and filling station in the country sells tickets, and it's not even considered 'gambling proper' by most people, so it's much more socially acceptable.
When it comes to the three main 'gambling proper' sectors, sports betting is the biggest of the lot. However, casino gaming isn't far behind it in terms of profitability. While no exact revenue figures are available, I'm fairly sure that casino gaming generates more in terms of sheer cash.
Most Popular Casino Apps
Ultimately, UK gambling is massive, and while responsible operators are scaling back on TV ads, I predict that it won't lead to any dramatic fall in revenue. The UK is gambling-crazy, and that's a fact that will remain true no matter how the figures reported here change in the months and years to come!
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.Welcome to the most trusted UK gambling resource online. We created this
website because we were tired of visiting gambling sites packed with flashing
ads and banners which offered nothing but rubbish and no real
value. We decided to create a list of the best UK gambling sites, but also
provide lots of useful, educational material on betting, casino games,
strategies, and the latest sports betting tips.
How are we able to provide such excellent content? That's down to our team.
We have specialists in each and every area, including sports savants, betting
pros, casino enthusiasts, and semi-pro poker players. The difference between us
and our competitors is down to real-world experience. We're not
a few university students who put together a football blog and added a few
banners on the page. We've used only the best online gambling sites for decades,
so it's safe to say we know what we're doing.
Rank | DE Gambling Site | Deposit Bonus | Products | Get Started |
#1 | 100% Up To €250 |
| Visit Site | |
#2 | Europa Casino | 200% Up To €500 |
| Visit Site |
#3 | 100% Up To €400 |
| Visit Site | |
#4 | 22Bet | 100% Up To €300 |
| Visit Site |
#5 | 100% Up To €400 |
| Visit Site |
UK Gambling Sites by Region
The United Kingdom may be four countries operating as one political union, but many gambling sites ignore the differences between them. For example, if you ask an Englishman to name the top UK bookmakers, you're likely to get different answers than if you ask a punter from Northern Ireland.
We understand these differences, and that's why we've categorized these UK gambling sites by region. Our chief editor has hand-picked the best betting sites for English, Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish gamblers. These sites offer sports betting, casino games, poker, and bingo. Go ahead and click your country to view the best gambling sites it has to offer.
As you'll see, there's no shortage of world-class bookmakers to choose from. That's no surprise. UK punters spent approximately £14.4 billion on gambling online in 2018 alone. The best gambling operators in the world are in the online market because they want a piece of that pie!
Online Gambling Laws in the United Kingdom
Most Popular Casino Card Games
One of the best things about the UK gambling industry is that it's legal,
regulated and controlled. This leads to a cleaner, safer gambling industry which
generates billions in tax revenue.
While there is some variation in land-based UK gambling laws (for example,
casinos are illegal in Northern Ireland), online gambling is a different story.
Online gambling in the UK is regulated by the
Gambling Act
(2005). The regulator is the UK Gambling Commission. This is one of the
strictest regulators in the world, and if a bookie wants to offer legal
services to its players, it needs to have a UKGC license.
Any of the UK gambling sites with this license can be trusted. The UKGC
regularly tests games, fines operators, and constantly pressures gambling
operators to mitigate and eliminate problem gambling. They've publicly
humiliated some of the biggest gambling operators and have fined them tens of
millions on multiple occasions.
What does this mean for you as a player? That you have a legally regulated
gambling environment which puts players' interests first. Once again, the UK
leads the way when it comes to how online gambling should be done. While other
national gambling industries may be crime-ridden and full of shady operators,
the United Kingdom has virtually eliminated all of that by legalizing, regulating, and
taxing all types of gambling online.
How to Choose a Gambling Website
Even if you're a first-time gambler, you probably already know what you're looking for. You may
want to bet on your favourite football team, or perhaps you want to play a
progressive jackpot slot. Either way, the best gambling sites will have what
you're looking for. Keep in mind, most online gambling websites specialize in one or
two areas and offer everything else as a secondary service. Choose the site
which focuses on the type of gambling you most want to engage in.
You'd be surprised by
which UK betting sites treat players unfairly. Some of them are household names,
and unsuspecting new punters blindly trust them on brand power alone. We don't
recommend taking anything at face value. Do your own research, starting with our
unbaised reviews, and find legit online gambling sites that pay on time.
They should also honour all bets, and shouldn't slash your jackpots with
extortionate withdrawal fees.
Something you have to understand is that our
ratings are based on what's right for all of our readers combined. The best
site, on the whole, might not be the best gambling site for you as an individual. For
example, a UK betting site might get five stars from us because it offers a huge
selection of betting markets across lots of sports, but it might have a weak
esports section. That's no good to you if you're primarily interested in betting
on esports, right? The best thing you can do is visit the sites for
yourself and take a look around.
While our team reviews and ranks the websites you see listed here, we consider player feedback,
too. We've delisted more than one UK gambling website because of a number of
player complaints. We do in-depth research, but we can't catch every little
thing, so we'd really appreciate it if you took the time to let us know what you
think about the gambling websites you've tried. Don't forget to contact us and tell us about
the positive experiences as well as the negative!
Top UK Bookmakers
While American sports have made inroads into UK culture in recent years, they
still don't come close in a popularity contest against the good old-fashioned
classics like football, rugby, tennis, snooker, and darts. Naturally, the best
UK betting sites focus on these. Elder scrolls online only 5 skill slots.
little wonder that the UK population is mad about betting on them. There are
over 8,400 betting shops in the UK, and if you sit down and watch any one of
them for 10 minutes, you'll notice that many of the punters walking through
their doors are wearing club jerseys. But don't forget about the online punters!
There are plenty of online football betting sites to choose from, and we've reviewed tons of them!
Check out the best UK football betting
sites here.
the whole world are on the UK while it happens. It's estimated that over half of
the UK population tuned in to watch Andy Murray play in the 2010 semi-final. The
UK is tennis-mad, and you can find the best UK tennis betting sites and some
great betting tips and tennis info in this section.
in the world hail from a given country. When it comes to rugby, the UK has some
of the best teams and players on the planet. England, Wales, and Scotland all
have national teams they can be proud of. To learn more about betting on rugby
at UK gambling sites, as well as learn useful tips about betting on 'the
gentleman's sport', check out this section.
and come out unbruised. While other UK countries don't quite have the same
firepower, cricket is universally loved across the country, and rightly so. You
might be surprised by some of the betting opportunities which cricket presents.
Learn more about betting on cricket and the top UK gambling sites which offer it
here.
Colin Montgomerie, to Ian Woosnam out of Wales, the UK has produced its fair
share of golfing legends. That's probably why there are so many golf betting
sites! Learn about betting on golf and where to do so here.
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