In a period of much change in the world, there is evidence that old gambling pastimes are experiencing something of a renaissance.
Brits love to have a flutter, whether it is on the football scores, horse racing or playing casino games online.
As the global coronavirus pandemic caused sport to grind to a halt earlier this year, many are rediscovering their love for old classic games from roulette to bingo or slots that have a modern twist.
GVC Holdings – the parent company of Ladbrokes Coral – saw its net gaming revenue (NGR) fall by 11 per cent year-on-year to £1.62billion for the period between January and June due to the closure of their shops.
However, their post-tax profit remained the same at £2.1million as the increased number of people who switched to online services saw the NGR rise by almost a fifth.
Bingo services – Gala bingo and Foxy Bingo – in particular have seen a big rise online with GVC among the biggest online gambling companies, putting them in a good position to deal with the current trend as they operate other brands such as SportingBet, PartyPoker and Bwin.
Online casinos are particularly popular now and recorded a gross gambling yield of £3.2 billion last year, a rise of 4% with classic games such as poker, blackjack and roulette proving to be big hits.
Traditional slot machines that would be found in bookmakers across the country have a huge online presence and make up 70% of the market.
With such a variety of choice along with advanced technology to produce gambling games, it is no wonder that they have such a wide appeal.
Gaming has also been on the rise with people having extra time on their hands while being stranded in their homes and that is something that the gambling industry is able to tap into also as an increasing number of slots have a gaming element to them and are easily accessible.
Companies like GVC have managed to stay at the top of the game by continually restructuring as they gained ownership of other top gambling companies in the country, and backing ‘growing’ products in times of struggle like this year where their primary online casino site helped them subdue heavy losses on their sportsbooks.
The Flutter Stars Group have experienced huge growth through their many mergers, bringing together companies such as Paddy Power, Betfair, Sky Bet and PokerStars, to give them huge revenues of £3.8bn.
The top companies in the sector have all embraced advanced technology and it has made them well placed to deal with the difficult market currently.
There is no doubt that tech and e-commerce companies that have coped best during this challenging time and businesses throughout the UK will now be looking to move services online as much as possible.
With more and more people gambling online now, the UK public’s love affair with betting looks to be stronger than ever.