The Gambling Prevalence Survey was recently released to the public by the UK Gambling Commission, as was the IBIS World Study. The latter of the two is similar to the first, but covers a much larger frame of time. This survey was performed by ICM Research, and only covers the past year, ending at the last day of March in 2012. Any types of gambling or remote gambling participation that occurred during this time is noted, as reported by the 4000 persons involved in the survey.
The increase in gambling participation raised slightly since the last survey, from 55.2% three years ago up to 58.1% this time around. More men than women reported that they take part in gambling, with the majority of persons being over the age of 45 years. National Lottery tickets were hands down the most popular choice with almost 50%, with scratch off and good cause lottery a close second. Horse racing and slot machines were at less than 5% each.
Just over 12% of all of the persons surveyed admitted that they had taken part in at least one type of gambling remotely in the past month. This number was just a mere 7.2% back in 2006, and has slowly been getting higher and higher every year. The National Lottery was by far the most popular choice to do this, and males were still more likely to do this than women, but the age range this time was a lower category, ages 18-44. Laptops and computers were the preferred medium to smartphones and digital tv as well.
What this study has shown is that the gambling industry is much stronger and more stable now than it was a decade ago, but the numbers have declined over the past five years. This is most likely due to the ban on smoking indoors that was instituted, since many gamblers prefer to patronize institutions where this activity is also allowed.
The way the economy is overall does not bring any hope or light to the possible increase of revenue, though with the Olympics being held in London this summer there is a chance of increased revenue from the tourists attending the games. Various budget cuts on the government level and the surge online gambling companies choosing to work offshore are leading to a severe decrease in the popularity of online gambling. Most persons in the industry believe that by the end of 2017-2018 there will have been a significant increase, primarily due to new technology being developed and sporting events that will be taking place.