Research by WinMyDreamHome.com has found that there has been a 7% drop in the number of us that like a flutter since 2014, but despite this, the amount we’re spending on gambling has continued to increase – up 65.4%.
However, the rate of increase in this spend has been slowing considerably year on year, as a greater emphasis on transparency in the sector has helped educate those spending in it.
WinMyDreamHome.com looked at how the profitability of the gambling industry has changed over the last four years, how this relates to our own personal spends and what percentage of our salaries we are spending on gambling.
The research shows that since 2014, the Gross Gambling Yield in the UK has increased steadily from just under £9.9bn to around £14.6bn last year – a jump of 47.8%.
During this time the population has also increased by just under two million people while the number of us gambling at least once in a four-week period has declined from 53% of the population to 46% last year.
Despite this reduction, the cost of gambling per capita in the UK has still increased from an annual spend of £288 for those who gambled in 2014 to £477 a year for those of us that gambled in 2018.
However, this rate of increase has slowed rather dramatically on a year to year basis, up 34% between 2014 to 2015, 10.6% between 2015 and 2016, 8.9% between 2016 to 2015 and just 2.5% between 2018 and 2017.
That means that in 2014, the average person spent just 1.1% of their salary on gambling each year, while today that has increased to 1.6%, a 0.5% jump despite a total 9.2% increase in salary growth.
While this may sound marginal it is still the highest level in the last four years and equates to £1.31 gambled away every day of the year or almost a month’s rent over the course of a year.
Marc Gershon of WinMyDreamHome.com comments:“Despite a fall in the number of us gambling, the amount of money that is being spent on the sector each year continues to grow ever higher.The ever-evolving ease and convenience of online gambling, in particular, has helped boost this spend but restrictions on stakes and a growing trend in lower stake games, that provide an option based on the fun of playing rather than the focus of winning big, have also helped balance the scale.As a result, it’s reassuring to see that while the monetary sum being gambled has increased, it has remained static as a percentage of salary over the last year at least.This is largely down to the greater deal of transparency being required by those operating in the sector and a drive to increase awareness and understanding of the negative impacts an addiction to gambling can bring.”
