iGaming Business – The UK Gambling Commission has reported that the number of people in the country participating in gambling activities dropped by 2% in the past year.
In a study entitled ‘Gambling participation: activities and mode of access’, the regulatory body reported that 55% of respondents had participated in at least one form of gambling in the previous four weeks. The figure was down from 57% in 2012.
Punters were most likely to have gambled ‘once a month, less than once a week’ although a significant number of respondents said their participation was ‘once a week’.
The report also found that a larger proportion of men take part in gambling activities, with 60% of male respondents admitting that they had participated in gambling in the previous four weeks, compared to just 50% of females.
The Gambling Commission’s study also suggested the UK’s online gambling market is continuing to grow after 15% of respondents said they had partaken in online gambling in the past four weeks, compared to 14% in the previous year.
However, when the UK’s National Lottery was excluded, the number of people participating in online gambling fell to 9%, which is still a rise on the 8% in 2012.
The National Lottery also remained the most popular type of gambling activity with 43% of respondents that gamble having taken part in the draws. However, the figure was down on the 46% of those that participated in 2012.
Online gambling proved to be more popular with males, with 19% of men saying they had participated in internet gambling in the past four weeks. Just 11% of females said they had taken part in online gambling during the same period.
Despite the growth of online gambling, ‘in person’ betting proved to be most popular with 73% of those that had taken part in gambling during the four-week period having done so ‘in person only’.
However, for participation in all individual activities, respondents were more likely to report that they gambled ‘online only’ than they were to report both online and in person, with the exception of dog and horse races.
