Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the amount taken by (a) betting shops and (b) online betting portals in the UK in each of the last five years.

Gambling policy and regulation is devolved to Northern Ireland, and we do not hold figures covering spending on gambling in Northern Ireland. The Gambling Commission is the regulator for Great Britain and collects industry statistics from operators’ regulatory returns which include data on Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) and turnover. These are published on the Commission’s website: http://www.gamblingcommission.gov.uk/news-action-and-statistics/Statistics-and-research/Statistics/Industry-statistics.aspx.

Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) is the amount retained by operators after the payment of winnings but before the deduction of operating costs. The GGY figure provides a more accurate reflection of consumer behaviour than turnover, as turnover alone includes recycled funds.

Gambling Commission statistics do not provide specific data on the amount taken in betting shops. The nearest equivalent is data provided for off-course betting, which includes over-the-counter and machine GGY in betting shops. This does not include GGY from pool betting (some of which is attributable to betting shops).

GB off-course betting data (April 2012 - Mar 2017):

From November 2014 (remote data)

Since November 2014 the Gambling Commission has collected data from all gambling operators licensed to provide remote gambling services (online and via telephone) to consumers in Great Britain. This followed implementation of the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014.

Before November 2014 (remote data)

Before November 2014, only operators with remote equipment located in Great Britain required a licence from the Gambling Commission. Therefore the Gambling Commission only has data for a small portion of the British-facing remote market before November 2014. Data provided for the period before November 2014 is not directly comparable to data covering the period after this date and does not reflect the total amount spent during this time.