Online Gambling Climbs as Covid-19 Restrictions Decrease

Online gambling is on the rise again as the pandemic restrictions set up to slow the spread of the novel Coronavirus start being lifted. Based on the latest data released by the Gambling Commission, the gambling market seems to be entering a new phase which could indicate the rise of new risks.

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The Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) showed an increase of 115% for online real event betting between May and June and rose to £217.5m. GGY was higher during June than at average pre-lockdown levels.

The return of player-friendly attributes in June indicated a high frequency of fixtures as top flight football, live free-to-air coverage, and saw the screening of matches being spread out during the day and evening lead to favourable engagements from gamblers.

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While there seemed to be an initial 1% increase in the number of people playing slots in May 2020, the same period saw a 5% decrease in the total number of slots bets, with a related 10% decline in loss per active player.

The loss per player figures are significantly higher for slots than for any other form of online gambling, with an average monthly loss of £68 for slots versus £54 for real event betting, and £37 for casino during June.

Community Consumer Product Engagement

The number of gambling activities or products undertaken by a consumer during a single session is a possible indicator of risk that needs to be carefully managed.

Licensed operators have been issued with guidelines to be implemented in order to ensure that players are kept safe and at risk individuals have access to the necessary support. These guidelines include:

Specifically review time indicators to capture play in excess of 1 hour as this is a proxy for potential harm.
Set additional or modify existing thresholds and triggers which are specific to new customers reflecting an operator’s lack of knowledge of that individual’s play and spend patterns.
Implement processes that ensure the continual monitoring of the customer base, identifying customers whose patterns of play, spend or behaviours have changed in the last few weeks.
Conduct affordability assessments for individuals picked up by existing or new thresholds and triggers which indicate consumers experiencing harm. Consider limiting or blocking further play until the checks have been concluded and supporting evidence obtained.
Prevent reverse withdrawal options for customers until further notice.
Stop bonus offers or promotions to customers displaying indicators of harm

The Gambling Commission recommends a review of all thresholds and triggers used to track vulnerability to ensure that they reflect changed financial circumstances that many consumers will be experiencing.

An emphasis should be placed on those thresholds and triggers being proactively reset on a precautionary basis to ensure customers with emerging vulnerability, such as increased time spent at play or increased spend can be identified.

Alert Upward Trend

Based on the stats collected, the number of online slots sessions lasting longer than an hour decreased by 5% in the month of June (from 2,085,023 to 1,987,121). While the average session length decreased by 1 minute.

Between May and June, the number of customer interactions undertaken rose by 12% (from 760,48 to 849,428) however, some of these interactions were automated.