UK gambling activity still showing overall decline during pandemic lockdown

UK gambling activity has remained relatively flat during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, according to new stats by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC).

On Friday, the UKGC released new data on COVID-19’s impact on gambling behavior, which showed that 75% of recent gamblers – defined as individuals who engaged in some form of gambling activity over the past four weeks – hadn’t increased time or money spent gambling in April, the first full month in which the nation was under pandemic restrictions.

The numbers were higher for ‘engaged’ gamblers, defined as individuals who participated in three or more gambling products over the past four weeks. Some 62% of engaged gamblers increased either time or money spent gambling on a single gambling product, although this doesn’t necessarily equate to overall increases in time or money spent by these engaged consumers.

What’s more, YouGov research showed that around 2% of UK adults stopped gambling during the past four weeks compared to just 0.2% who started gambling for the first time during the same period.