UK Online Gambling Has Increased by 50% in 6 Years

The latest figures released by the UK Gambling Commission reveal that online gambling in the country has increased by 50% in the last 6 years.

Their new report comes from data gained from research done by DataBuild Research & Solutions. This has led to the Trends in Gambling Behaviour 2008-14 report. The figures in here include the fact that online wagering participation rose from 9.7% in December of 2008 up to 15.4% in December of 2014.

Interestingly, overall gambling participation levels (online and land-based) fell slightly over the period being analysed.

The rise is online wagering is clearest among men, with an 11.7% figure at the end of 2008 rising to 18% by the time last year ended. In the case of female gamblers, the rise was from 7.8% up to 12.8%.

Sports betting is where we see the biggest difference between the genders. In fact, men are 106.8% more likely to wager in this way. In other types of online gambling the possibilities of men playing are 24.9% higher than with women.

A feature of the results that stands out is the way the gambling rates appear to increase when the economy gets worse. This could be seen in the way that gambling increased by 4.6% at the same time that the UK's gross domestic product dropped by 1%. On the other hand, a 1% rise in unemployment figures le to a similar drip in female gambling but no change to the men's habits.