GB Online Slots Post Record Quarter Despite Looming Tax Fears
According to the latest figures from the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), Brits generated a gross gambling yield of £1.49billion across all online gambling metrics during the second quarter of the year.
Exactly half of this figure, or £745million, was attributed to online slots, showing that slot machines remain the most popular form of iGaming in the UK and that British gamblers have an unquenchable thirst for these games.
Both figures represent quarterly records and come despite new stake limits and shorter recorded average play times.
However, the Commission noted that several providers altered their measuring methodology, which will account for some of the reported change.
As of April, online bettors in the UK have seen their maximum stakes limited by UKGC licence requirements.
Players aged 25 or over can bet up to a maximum of £5 per spin, while players aged between 18 and 25 have a maximum stake limit of £2 per game.
The UKGC also requires spin times to be a minimum of 2.5 seconds, while UKGC-licensed providers are unable to offer feature-buy facilities.
Records Fall
This has not stopped Brits from taking to online casinos for a regular flutter. Q2’s online Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) of £1.49bn is 2% higher than the previous quarterly record of £1.46bn, set in Q2 last year, and 3% higher than the previous quarter.
Online slot GGY of £745m is up a massive 14% from last year, setting its own quarterly record in the process.
Slots also set another record during the period. The 24.4 billion spins represented an 8% increase compared to 2024.
The spins and gaming yield came from 4.4 million active accounts – a figure that remained roughly stable.
The reported average session length did drop from 17 minutes to 16 minutes, while the number of sessions lasting over an hour also fell by 1% to 5%.
However, some operators changed their session length recording methodology, which likely accounted for some of the difference.
Gambling Industry Taxation Threats
The UK gambling industry is bracing itself for possible tax increases as soon as Chancellor Rachel Reeves looks for ways to plug a £50bn economic black hole.
After former Prime Minister Gordon Brown publicly suggested the move, the share prices of some of the country’s biggest gambling companies plummeted.
The beleaguered horse racing industry stands to lose the most, with proposals to bring its taxation in line with online gambling – a threat that has led to the industry calling a one-day strike on September 10.
Meanwhile, Brown said: “We now know that taxing gambling more fairly would fully fund the first crucial step in the war we must wage against child poverty: ending the two-child limit and lifting the benefit cap.”
The former PM made the comment after the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) claimed the treasury could raise more than £3bn by increasing taxes on the most profitable areas of the gambling industry – namely, online casinos and slot machines.
