Gambling Industries Continue to Flourish in UK and US

Gambling continues to be increasingly popular in both the UK and the US. How do the two industries compare with each other, particularly in terms of the sports that players love to gamble on and the revenues being earned?

In the UK, there are over 900 licensed gambling sites and when land-based venues are added, the total is over 9,000. There are over 6,000 betting shops around the UK. Recent figures show that around 44% of UK adults have placed bets of some kind in the previous four weeks. 

There are now over 2000 casinos, sportsbooks and gambling venues in the US. Tremendous growth has been seen in the US gambling industry since 2018. That was the year in which a US Supreme Court Judge ruled that individual states could make the final decision on whether or not to make gambling legal, especially on sport. 

Over 30 US states have now gone down the legalisation route. This is good news for the gambling industry but also the states themselves as they receive huge amounts of gambling tax revenue.

July 2024 saw New Jersey record total gaming revenue of $547.8 million. That was the highest July figure for over a decade. Gaming revenue was $195.4 million, 25.9% higher than that recorded in the same period last year. So far this year, a total of $1.33 billion has been recorded until the end of July and that’s up 22% compared to 2023.

Sports betting is also going well in New Jersey with July’s gross revenue being $80 million (up 31.2%) with a total for the first seven months of the year of $653.1 million, a rise of 30.1% from last year, according to NJ.bet, an online casino and sports gambling guide for the Garden State. New Jersey received $1.325 billion in gambling tax revenue in July. There are moves being made to increase the tax rate in the state.

In the UK, the most popular sport to bet on is football. Betting on the English Premier League is hugely popular with British gamblers. UK gambling sites offer odds on all the matches that are played, not just in the Premier League but for other competitions in the UK too. 

In addition, online sportsbooks in the UK cover matches played in leagues all around the globe. It’s not just the top games that are covered. Such is the desire to place bets on football, they will present odds for youth and reserve matches too.

Other popular sports that UK gamblers love betting on include horse racing, tennis and both rugby union and rugby league. UK online sportsbooks also include virtual sports and these are available 24/7 for sports such as football, horse and greyhound racing and motorsports.

The first quarter of the 2024-25 financial year saw online total gross gambling yield (GGY) of £1.46 billion for the period between April and June of this year. That’s 12% higher than the Q1 figure recorded in the first period of the 2023-24 financial year.

There was a year-on-year increase of 11%  in the number of total bets and/or spins with a 24.5 billion total. This was the second quarter in a row that a record total had been recorded.

As we’ve mentioned previously, football is the sport that UK gamblers love to place bets on. Euro 2024 took place in this quarter and that led to an increase of 11% in average monthly active accounts due to the desire to place bets on the tournament.

When it comes to playing at online casinos, slots continue to be increasingly popular. Slots GGY in the first quarter was up by 10% to £642 million. There were  a record 22.4 billion spins recorded, 12% higher than in the same quarter last year. An increase of 8%  was seen in the number of online slots sessions that went through the one hour mark,

Which sports do American gamblers prefer to place bets on? The NFL season has just gone underway and that’s good news for American gambling companies. That’s because American Football brings in tremendous amounts of gambling revenue, especially in a state such as New Jersey.

The annual Super Bowl event is a massive one in many ways. It’s not just a spectacular event with a massive global television audience. $141.6 million worth of bets were placed on this year’s Super Bowl in New Jersey. That was an increase of 30% on the total wagers placed in the previous year.

Basketball is another of the sports that American gamblers love to bet on. This is particularly so when the NBA season is in full flow. There’s also what is known as March Madness when the top college basketball matches are held.

Baseball and horse racing are other sports that Americans love to bet on with tennis and golf also popular.

There may be some problems ahead for the UK and US gambling industries. Stricter regulation is likely in the UK especially in terms of tighter affordability checks and restrictions on advertising. Regulation exists in the US, mainly against underage gambling but the threat of higher tax rates is hanging over the industry.