The online gambling market is growing worldwide and the reasons behind this seem to be myriad. Playing from the comfort of one’s home has been a strong contributing factor, not to mention the caution around gambling and the emphasis on regulating it.
When looking at the US, citizens spent $35 billion annually on gambling and a notable chunk of that sum went to online betting. It’s safe to say that the remainder was probably allocated to playing no-deposit casino games such as slots or other table games traditionally found at brick-and-mortar casinos.
The team of experts at NoDepositRewards has witnessed first-hand the great surge in US players. Partly owing to operators being granted more licenses, but mostly because there has been an increasing demand.
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Why has the revenue increased?
Increasing internet accessibility, the abundance of smartphones, and the spread of social media have all driven the growth of gambling revenue.
Online gambling is easy, and convenient and comes with a plethora of different games and entertainment options. It is easy to get started and there are no late age restrictions.
Being able to start betting without having to commute to a land-based casino has been one of the main reasons why the online casino industry is cashing in so much profit. Another might be that the options presented via gambling platforms are much wider and varied in range than most brick-and-mortar casinos.
The growing popularity of online gambling requires an increasing need for regulation. Online gambling poses higher risks, two of which are addiction and cybercrime. If the industry works to promote the enforcement of these much-needed regulations, such risks can be drastically reduced.
The Regulation of Online Gambling in the UK
The UK has been the pioneer of such enforcement so far. The UK Gambling Commission has made it its mission to put in place several measures to protect players and ensure they are fairly treated by operators and gambling providers.
This move can be considered quite successful seeing that a recent report by SkyQuest discovered that the number of people gambling online in the UK market increased by 32% in the last 2 years.
This trend has been pushed upward by the increasing number of online casinos and sports betting, whose online visuals are becoming more refined and are offering a wider variety of games and betting options.
Facts related to the Online Gambling Market
- The worth of the global online gambling market is expected to reach around $153.89 by 2028.
- Online gambling is now legal in many countries. Some of these are the United Kingdom, the US, Australia, India, Japan, and Canada.
- The top countries in the online gambling sector are the UK and China.
- In the US though, online gambling is still illegal in most states.
- Poker, casino games, and sports betting are the most popular online gambling games.
- The age cohort of young adults who engage mostly in online gambling is 36-44 years old.
- Men are more prone to gamble than women although the gender gap is becoming narrower.
- Addiction, financial ruin, and crime are the risks most associated with online gambling.
- The number of online gambling sites in operation today is around 2,000.
Top Contributors to 73% of the Revenue
The top contributors to the online gambling market in terms of countries are China, the US, Japan, Canada, and Australia. According to SkyQuest’s latest studies, these five countries produce over 73% of the total revenue of the online gambling sector.
This signifies quite a large amount when taking into consideration that online gambling is legal in more than 60 countries.
The reason behind this large revenue from only five countries is that people there gamble frequently. China has the largest population in the world, and Chinese citizens are known to be big gamblers. The same can be said for citizens of the US, Japan, Canada, and Australia.
According to the SkyQuest study, Americans spend $2.6 billion on online gambling yearly whilst Canadians spend over $4.4 billion, which is a significant increase over the US. According to the SkyQuest study, over 70% of Canadians engage in online gambling activities, especially at online casinos.
No country, however, tops the UK. According to the SkyQuest study, the country spends over $16.41 billion on online betting per year.
This could also be due to the several options presented to the players when considering that the gambling market is legal and regulated and there are plenty of safe and legal choices for players to select from.
There is also the factor that the UK has a large population of internet users so there is a large share of potential punters for gambling operators.
The UK has a long-standing history of gambling going back to the days of badger fighting, cockfighting, and horse racing. The gambling tradition has evolved into a modern era, with the British public spending billions of pounds on lotto tickets, casino games, and sports betting each year.