Over the past decades, sports betting and gambling have been a major part of the entertainment activities favoured by the British and this industry shows no signs of abating, but although your father or grandfather used to bet at high street betting shops, the betting industry has completely changed
Modern sports betting is definitely not what your father or grandfather used to enjoy at their weekends! Nowadays, a large part of the sports betting sector has shifted to the internet, so well-established betting brands such as Bet365 and William Hill launched their online platforms many years ago. Although these brands have an unparalleled fame in the industry, online bettors only “look for innovation” wherever it is found. Indeed, there are a lot of innovations that have come from new operators such as Betfair’s free sports live streaming and live betting services, as well as Cash-out feature, graphic simulation for sports events, cash rewards and free bets. All of these innovations did not exist before the rise of the online sports betting industry.
These features have made the sports betting industry incredibly attractive even for people who have never bet before. On the other hand, sports betting immense popularity has raised the concerns of regulators in the UK and many other countries on gambling addiction. Therefore, the UKGC imposed many restrictions on the online gambling industry. Most recently, the committee banned gambling firms from sponsoring Premier League teams. Also, they ordered all sports betting sites to integrate with GamStop to prevent self excluded players from resuming betting activities during the self-exclusion period. Although most sports betting sites adhered to this decision, a few ignored it, which resulted in their licenses being cancelled!
The growth of the British sports betting industry
According to the Statista website, from 2017 to 2021, 47% of Britons have placed at least one bet on a sport within a period of 4-6 weeks prior to being surveyed. Over the past decade, sports betting has been one of the fastest-growing entertainment sectors. Besides being based on very low operating expenses, it is attractive to a broad spectrum of ages, socio-economic groups of British society and this is the reason behind its rapid huge growth in recent years.
In 2020, the pandemic has shut down betting shops all over the UK and around the world as well. According to many reports, gambling revenues from traditional shops fell to 84.1 million pounds during the period between 2018 and 2020. However, the drop rates are only related to the convention betting sector as the online gambling rates have increased significantly during the same period.
During the same period, from 2018 to 2020, online sports betting increased by 20%. Note the huge difference between the net growth of sports betting sites and the huge losses incurred by traditional betting shops.
In 2020, all sports were shut down to contain the pandemic, but online bookmakers responded quickly to this situation by focusing on eSports which gained great fame and popularity and are still a favourite of many.
In general, the huge jumps in popularity and the market do not show any signs of abating or slowing down in the period ahead.
The rising popularity of sports betting means higher addiction rates!
The huge demand for sports betting sites has resulted in more sports betting sites being launched and more bettors being drawn into the industry, yet statistics from charities such as GamCare shows an “unprecedented” rise in the rates of gamblers who want psychological support. The UKGC has attempted to counter the rapidly growing phenomenon of gambling addiction by recognizing GamStop as the national self-exclusion program for British gambling sites, so a player who participates in this scheme will not be able to access any sports betting site that holds the UKGC license.
Are excluded bettors sticking to their decision?
It is psychologically difficult for bettors with addictive tendencies to abide by a self-exclusion decision from online gambling sites, so the GamStop subscription is binding and cannot be reversed or modified afterwards! However, a large section of the British sports betting industry is dominated by the unregulated parallel market.
Offshore sports betting sites operate from other countries and hold the licenses of other regulators (e.g., Curaçao, Malta and Gibraltar), UK players can easily access the sites, bet on the sports, and make deposits and withdrawals using a wide range of financial methods. In other words, they are no different from British sports betting sites.
Sports betting dominates the British gambling industry
The gambling industry, virtual and real, is not only limited to sports betting but also includes casinos, lottery shops, bingo and poker halls. However, sports betting appears to be the biggest sector in this industry and it is growing at an exponential rate annually!
Overall, football betting is the largest category in this industry as it dominates 49% of the British sports betting market share as a whole. Horse racing comes second with a percentage of 23%. However, it’s a large percentage considering the big difference between the frequency of football matches and horse races. However, it is no secret that the horse racing industry is facing tough times in the UK due to the spread of the Coronavirus and concerns about the welfare and abuse of animals and the rigours of their training and upbringing.
Tennis accounts for 5% of the sports betting industry, while the share of betting on greyhounds is 3.1%. Golf is ranked last with a percentage of 0.7%.
Interestingly enough, the past 24 months have led to the emergence of an entirely new sport – esports. In fact, the covid-19 restriction have made more people discover and participate in esports. Although esports betting is still in its infancy, we must not overlook that the gaming industry itself is the most important entertainment industry in the world and has outpaced the size of the movie, music, and sports industries combined in the USA! Thus, the video gaming industry appears to silently taking over entertainment world and it is growing and extending into other sectors. Although its share in the sports betting industry is currently 3.2%, it is likely to grow to 10% within the next three years.