Gambling has been a part of British culture for hundreds of years and is still a popular pastime in the country. However, the gambling industry of today is nothing like the one your father or grandfather knew. Instead, over the last decade, the gambling industry in the United Kingdom has become extremely innovative, competitive, and fragmented.
One of the industries that have grown the fastest in the last decade has been the online betting and gaming sector. Overall, gambling has experienced a minor fall in popularity. However, this drop was primarily restricted to brick-and-mortar casinos, while remote or internet gambling rose enormously throughout the same era, with the pandemic having a big role in it, at least in recent years.
These are massive leaps in popularity, and the industry for online gaming and betting shows no signs of slowing down. Users may now pick from hundreds of different gaming sites, all of which compete for the attention of UK customers. To differentiate themselves in a highly competitive online industry, online casinos provide gamblers with huge game libraries, lucrative signup bonuses, and cutting-edge digital platform technologies.
With that said, below are the current facts concerning eSports and online betting in the United Kingdom.
The Rise and Growth of Online Gambling in the UK
It is worthwhile to go further into the UK gambling and betting sector to better understand market forces and the direction of the online gambling industry. Sports betting is one of the most popular types of online gambling, and it is expanding at an exponential rate year after year.
Football betting is very popular, accounting for about half of the sports betting market share. Following football, horse racing, steeplechase events, and other sports you can find on sites like https://trustedbookmaker.com/ account for around a quarter of all sports bets in the UK. In the United Kingdom, the increased use of internet and smartphone services is propelling the online gambling industry. Online gambling offers a completely immersive gaming experience and is often accessible via desktops or mobile apps. Private enterprises cooperating with third-party software providers to create user-friendly gaming interfaces is also driving growth in the industry.
eSports: A New Way to Enjoy and Bet on Sports
According to the UK Gambling Commission, eSports betting has become an increasingly popular product among younger bettors, who are also engaged in significantly more in-play betting than prior generations (UKGC). The Commission recognised several noteworthy trends in the British betting and gambling sector in terms of product appeal, wagering techniques, and the use of responsible betting tools.
It was reported that eSports betting is growing in popularity, with an annual growth rate of roughly 8% by 2019 ascribed mostly to the preferences of young male gamblers.
As per UKGC data, early age bettors are also boosting the rising popularity of in-play betting, even though the majority of online punters, in general, have engaged in this method of gambling, with three in ten betting in the previous seven days and more than a quarter more doing so in the previous four months at least.
The Economic Impact
The treasury received more than £2 billion in tax from gaming enterprises in the fiscal year 2020-2021. The previous year, when there were many more athletic events, the total was over £3 billion. With figures like these, some may wonder if the UK government prioritises tax income and an increase in the employment rate over the well-being of its population.
The system established by the UKGC guarantees that every pound of tax owing is returned to the treasury, where it is subsequently reinvested in local communities, funding public services such as schools, libraries, and hospitals, and pays for the upkeep of facilities.
