The Rise Of The Online Casino Industry

If you were to look at the statistics around betting shops alone as a representation of the Gaming industry you would see a noticeable and steady decline of usage across the last 5 Years. A 4% decline in the number of stores doesn’t sound like a lot, but this coupled with a 27% increase in Gaming Machine takings in store across the same period highlights a growing movement of Younger Gamblers adopting newer ways to play the odds against the bookies.

The traditional bingo hall is another area of the gaming industry that has taken a hit with a 13% decrease in physical stores since its peak in 2013. But again a rise in Gaming machines located at the premises from 130% since 2011 has changed the way the market thinks about Bingo.

This gamification of a traditional flutter is what is currently turning the market to online platforms and in recent years has promoted a huge spike in small independent platforms being able to compete with the traditional names in Betting such as William Hill, Ladbrokes, and Betfred. There is no doubt that these names still dominate the market, but their collective market share has been significantly reduced due to people playing at qiuqiu and another known online casino who are growing year on year in an already saturated market.

The number of Gambling software licenses has grown dramatically over the last 5 years. The total has reached 719 in September 2015 a 135% increase in the number of gambling software licenses held in 2012. The same data that for every Physical store license granted, 3 Software-based licenses were applied for and granted in the last year.

Both land-based casinos and the online casino market have seen substantial growth over the past couple of years. The UK Gambling Commission revealed financial statistics which showed a 5% increase in 2014 and a predicted 13% increase over the 5 years to follow. It’s an increase that has been present up and down the country and it’s an ever-strengthening market which is said to be worth in excess of £7.1 billion.

The online casino revenue makes up 16% of the £7.1 billion and in spite of the growing mobile gaming market, it still finds itself sitting in the third position spot thanks to other areas of the industry on the rise.

Whilst sports’ betting now dominates the second spot in the round-up of gross gambling figures with a 19% share it’s still the traditional land-based casinos that are enjoying a massive 47% of the revenue share further proving that even though the online market has been growing substantially over the past years re-fuelled by a new generation of gamified gamblers that are honing their “skills” on mobile devices, then taking that experience to the next level within a physical casino.

Whether you love or hate gambling, the industry is one of the oldest and most adaptive. Tending to evolve with new trends and the large companies are the quickest to throw money at an idea to see if it returns an investment. In the current climate, as opposed to being dominated by big players, we are seeing a trend of smaller software houses building up loyal supporters and turning a profit.