Informe anual de la Gambling Comission
According to the Gambling Commission's annual report, the Betting shop closures due FOBT´s crisis lead to overall gambling revenue decline in Great Britain
In the latest and recently published annual report of the Gambling Commission in which the evolution of the sector between October and September (1 calendar year) is shown, a decrease in the profits of the operators of the sector between October 2018 and September of 2019. Although the figure is not very relevant (-0.5%), the reason must be sought in the reduction of the maximum bets of FOBT terminals.
The closure of betting shops was a contributing factor for the 0.5% decrease in gross gambling yield (GGY) in Great Britain, between October 2018 and September 2019, making land-based activity fell, however, decreasing 14% to £2.8bn as off-course and pool betting declined.
A primary factor here was the regulation which came into force in April 2019, limiting the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOTBs) to £2, previously £100. As a result, GGY for B2 machines – FOBTs – fell 46% to £624m. This also led to the total number of betting shops decreasing to 7,315 in September 2019, down 12% from six months earlier.
The number of licensed gambling premises also decreased in the same six-month period, falling 10% to 9,745.
The amount of licensed operators fell by 36 to 2,652, from March to September 2019, while the number of employees in the gambling industry was down 4% to 98,174.
Gambling Commission statistics show GGY fell to £14.3bn ($17.63bn) in the year ending September 2019, compared to the period between April 2018 and March 2019.
However, online gaming rose by 4%, with online casino generating GGY of £3.2bn, mostly from slot games, and betting contributing £2.1bn.
Football wagering accounted for 47% of the overall betting amount, with horseracing betting rising 11% and virtuals 8%.
National Lottery was the second-largest sector in terms of GGY, increasing 4% to £3.2bn, with contributions to good causes rising by 7% to £1.6bn.
Source: Gambling Comission
