Gambling comes in many different forms, from betting on horse racing to entering the National Lottery. We look at the latest gambling statistics to see how Brits are spending their money and if we’re gambling responsibly. While gambling can be fun, there are some obvious (and less obvious) downsides. You could run up debt or damage your chances of borrowing money. Gambling carefully and responsibly is essential.
UK gambling statistics: Highlights
In the year to March 2022, the gross gambling yield for the UK industry as a whole was £14.1 billion.
In the year to March 2023, 44% of Brits gambled at least once.
The average person spends £141 a year, or £2.70 a week, on betting and gaming.
There are an estimated 168,149 ‘problem gamblers’ in the UK, up by 50% from 2022.
Those aged between 20-24 are the most likely to become ‘problem gamblers’.
Men are over 7 times more likely to become problem gamblers compared to women.
Over a quarter of Brits (27.6%) have taken part in the National Lottery in 2023.
UK adults spent a total of £3.3 billion on betting and gaming between April 2022 and March 2023.
Monthly online gambling participation is up by 78.4% in March 2023 compared to April 2020.
Online real event betting is 35% more popular than online slots.
How many people gamble in the UK?
In the year to March 2023, 44% of Brits aged 16 and over had gambled at least once, and a quarter (26%) of people had taken part in gambling online.
The total number is up from 43% who gambled in the year to March 2022 and from 40% in the year to March 2021. However, it’s lower than the percentage of people gambling pre-pandemic, which was 47% of adults in the year to March 2020.
There hasn’t been much change in the amount of in-person gambling participation since 2022, as it has stayed stable at 27%, but this figure is still below the pre-pandemic figure of 35%.
The number of problem gamblers in the UK rose by 50% to hit an estimated 168,149 (0.3% of those participating), up from an estimated 112,000 (0.2%) in 2022. This is still lower than the 0.6% overall problem gambling rate in 2020.
What are the most popular types of gambling?
National lottery draws are by far the most popular type of gambling in the UK, with an estimated 27.6% of the UK adult population taking part in the year to March 2023. This is closely followed by other lottery types at 13.4% and scratchcards at 7.5%.
Spread betting was the least popular type of gambling, with just 0.3% taking part. This is followed closely by virtual dog or horse races and real-life dog races, both with just a 0.4% participation rate.
It is estimated that UK adults spent a total of £3.3 billion on betting and gaming between April 2022 and March 2023. 30% of these total receipts came from Lottery Duty, meaning that £990 million came from Lottery Duty.
As approximately 44% of UK adults participate in gambling, this means the average person spends approximately £141 a year or £2.70 a week on betting and gaming.
Online gambling statistics
In March 2023, 14 million active players were gambling online across verticals, with the biggest operators (who cover approximately 80% of the online gambling market). Compared to April 2020, which had just under 10 million active players during the month, this is up by 78.4%.
The most popular form of online gambling in March 2023 was real event betting, with over 6.5 million people participating. The least popular form of online gambling for that same month was poker, as only 230,685 people played it.
However, real event betting has decreased in popularity, as it went from having nearly 8 million players in April 2022 to just a little over 6 million players in March 2023, a 14.2% decrease. On the other hand, online slots went from having 3 million players to over 4 million players in the same period, an increase of 15.5%
In the year to March 2022, the gross gambling yield or GGY for the UK industry as a whole was £14.1 billion. This refers to the amount retained by gambling operators after the payment of winnings.
In the year to March 2023, the gross GGY for online gambling with the biggest operators was £4.9 billion. During that period, the month with the highest GGY for online gambling was March 2023 (£495 million), and the month with the lowest GGY was February 2023 (£352 million). In 1 month, there was a 40% increase in GGY for online gambling.
Slots were the most lucrative area of online gambling this year, with a total of £2.25 billion in GGY. Sports betting gave the worst returns for gambling providers, with a GGY of £7.7 million.
Recent estimates suggest that there are 168,149 problem gamblers in the UK. A total of 148,004 men are problem gamblers, and 20,145 women struggle as well. This means men are over 7 times more likely to be problem gamblers than women.
Over 1.3 million men and 390,656 women are considered to be at some level of risk from gambling.
Interestingly, young people aged between 20-24 are the age group most likely to struggle with a gambling problem, with 42,702 estimated to be problem gamblers and 335,859 at risk in total.
In the year to March 2023, the average session length for online slots was 17 minutes. During this period, December 2022 had the most online slot sessions played for longer than an hour, with over 3.1 million.
Emily Herring is a Publisher at Finder specialising in credit-based products including credit cards and business and personal loans. Emily has recently joined the Investments team. She has a Masters in Creative Writing & Publishing and a Bachelor of Arts in Communication & Media. See full bio
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