A closer look at UK betting behaviour

The Brits are a nation of thrill seekers, at least according to a study on the UK betting behaviour published by Smart Live Gaming. From the looks of it, online gambling is on the rise in the UK and this trend will continue in the years to come.

According to the study, which evaluated the most popular methods of betting and gambling for men and women across a series of different age groups, UK has a strong gambling culture, where online gambling plays an important role and is bound to become the most popular form of gambling. Most people who engage in gambling activities are not professionals, but play for pleasure in their free time.

In terms of preferred betting activities, the most interested in sports betting are people between the ages of 18 to 24, while 25 to 34 year olds are the most active gamblers in the UK.

The findings show that horse race betting remains one of the most popular betting activities for both men and women aged 25 to 34, 14.6% of a British man’s gambling money being spent on horse race betting throughout his life.

The most popular betting activities for British men are horse race betting (63%), online betting with a bookmaker (44%) and offline sports betting (37%). British women are particularly interested in horse race betting (50%), offline sports betting (18%) and private betting (9%).

Since sports betting is most popular for people between the ages of 18 and 24, especially men, this means that college students and young working professionals should be targeted more.

After the age of 35, betting habits tend to steadily decline, with fewer and fewer people engaging in gambling activities.

Smart Live Gaming also suggests that 86% of players are male, while only 14% are female. However, women are the lucky ones when it comes to winnings.

On a similar note, the Gambling Commission published the industry statistics for the five year period comprised between 2009 and 2015, according to which the biggest growth has been registered for remote betting, bingo and casino (22%) and casinos (15%) in 2014 compared to 2013.

During the period April 2013–March 2014, the British gambling industry, as regulated by the Commission and excluding the National Lottery, generated a gross gambling yield of £6.8bn, an increase of 6% or almost £389.5m when compared with the previous year.

The non-remote betting sector represents the largest market within the industry with a 47% share, followed by the British regulated remote sector (17%) and the casino sector (16%).

It’s safe to say that the online gambling industry is experiencing a rapid growth, since it is much more accessible than traditional gambling and, of course, the UK remains one of the hotspots for online gambling, with betting being especially profitable.

What can we expect in the future?

Since technology has been propelling the gambling industry forward, online gambling is sure to become more popular than ever. The major trends in online gambling will continue to be mobile and social gambling.

According to the Global Online Gambling and Betting Market 2014 published by YStats, mobile gambling is expected to reach double-digit rates and acquire over 40% of the total online gambling market by 2018, while the number of people engaged in mobile gambling is estimated to grow by 100 million by 2018.

Social gambling is another online gambling trend to observe in the years to come, as more and more operators will begin to monetize gaming on social networks. Real money casinos are already popular on social networks and sports betting has recently joined the social gambling scene, so we can expect this trend to continue.