Consumer expenditure on retail gambling in the UK returned to growth during 2014/15 and is on course to pass the £9,000 million mark within the next 1-2 years.

Behind that headline, though, gaming machine revenue growth has slowed rapidly and the rise of football betting is not yet compensating for sustained decline in gambling on horseracing.

That means the pace of future market expansion will be determined primarily by the lotteries sector (particularly its booming instant win games segment), and the external influence of the scale and strength of the wider economic recovery.

This report examines consumers’ experience of gambling in terms of the activities in which they participate and the means by which they do so; it tracks changes in their habits around frequency of and spending on gambling and analyses the visibility and impact of a range of marketing channels.

Definition

This report examines the UK gambling market, which is comprised of:

  • National Lottery draws, other lotteries (eg Health Lottery/People’s Postcode) and scratchcards/instant win games

  • Bingo

  • Betting on sports events (eg horseracing, football etc) and non-sports events (eg politics, TV reality shows etc)

  • Casinos

  • Gaming machines

  • Football pools

Although the focus of the report is on gambling in person, reference to online gambling is also made for comparison purposes.

Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.

Abbreviations

AGC Adult Gaming Centre
FIFA Fédération Internationale de Football Association
FEC Family Entertainment Centre
GGY Gross Gaming Yield
HD High Definition
HMRC Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs
IWG Instant Win Games
MGD Machine Gaming Duty
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