The online gambling industry is worth some serious money. The industry is growing at a rapid rate and is turning over millions each and every day. The top UK gambling sites have millions of users and receive an equally large number of bets. While plenty of anti-gambling activists are out there, the sheer financial impact of the industry is hard to deny. The industry brings in a lot of money, and plenty of people benefit from that. Of course, it is not all one-sided, though. Let’s take a look at the financial impact of the gambling industry in the UK.
Direct Economic Impact
The United Kingdom’s gambling industry is a multi-billion pound one. In the year 2022/23, it is estimated that the gambling industry contributed around £11.5 billion to the country’s economy. By anybody’s standards, this is significant.
It is estimated that around 11.5 million people in the UK gamble regularly. In a country that has a population of around 60 million, this is a huge portion. Most of these people are gambling in top online casinos and using popular UK bookmakers. According to research completed by the Gambling Commission, 79% of the people gambling consider themselves to be recreational gamblers, while 90% of people interviewed between the ages of 25-54 said that they had gambled at least once in the previous 12 months.
These figures showcase the sheer size of the industry in the country. Users in the UK do not pay tax on their gambling winnings, but the operators are all required to, and the British Government collects quite a sizeable tax bill from these companies.
Jobs & Opportunities
The job market is one of the biggest impacts of the gambling industry on the UK economy. Official numbers on the number of people currently employed by the gambling industry in the UK are difficult to locate, with the best estimate putting it at around 100,000.
The industry requires a lot of skilled people to keep itself ticking over. Developers, writers, designers, and testers all play key roles in the gambling industry, as do customer support workers, administration staff, and other office-based roles. This is just looking at the industry from an online perspective as well. There are thousands of retail-based bookmakers and casinos all over the UK, all of which are fully staffed and providing steady incomes and adding to the British economy. This also involves cleaning staff, renting opportunities for landlords, and more.
With so many new companies moving into the gambling industry, and the industry continuing to grow, there is the promise of even more jobs being created as well. A report in 2023 stated that the industry would create at least 15,000 new jobs in the UK before 2028. When a country sees significant losses in other sectors, these growth opportunities will be hugely welcomed.
Is There an Economical Cost?
The UK gambling industry has become an increasingly divisive issue since the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic saw a lot of people gambling more than they had done in the past, and while the industry saw some huge profits in its online sector, anti-gambling voices began to question the true economic impact of the industry.
Anti-gambling advocates have argued that the gambling industry comes at a big cost to the economy and that the money spent funding gambling harms charities and provides services outweighs the profit it rakes in. While the numbers don’t necessarily support this, it raises some interesting questions about how gambling support charities are run, with many calling for more involvement from the gambling companies to help.
There are also questions about its impact on the sports industry, with many people becoming overly-reliant on the industry to keep afloat. Football sponsorship deals are one of the biggest sources of contention, with some arguing that they are bad for the game, and others arguing that the game, especially lower down the pyramid, needs the money that is generated from these lucrative sponsorship deals.
A Strong Future
Whatever your views on the economic impact of the gambling industry in the UK. One thing that seems certain is that the industry will continue to grow at a fast pace. This will see more jobs and more opportunities created for the British people and the economy at large. The industry generates billions for the country, and with so many exciting developments on the horizon, it’s hard to see this slowing down.
