The UK Gambling Commission today revealed that gambling participation in the country has decreased during the lockdown. However, it said that the fall was not as drastic during the first full month of lockdown as was expected.

Data from April shows a decline

The data was collected from the biggest gambling operators in the UK for the month of April and combined with the COVID-19 tracker by YouGov. The tracker measures public habits and trends during the lockdowns via a representative sample of 2,000 adults from the country. It suggested that 75% of the active players did not increase their time or money spent on gambling. This includes the products from big operators as well as National Lottery products. However, there was a 5% decrease in overall activity in April on a monthly basis.

According to the UKGC, the lockdown did not result in an increase in the number of new players. Only 0.2% of the adults admitted that they had started gambling during the lockdown period. However, gambling trends have changed significantly as people have started engaging with new products. The number increased to 42% in April. This is mostly due to the rise in weekly draw participation. One in five people revealed that they had engaged in the draw in the past month.

Findings consistent with previous data

The UKGC that its current and previous sets of findings are consistent with each other. It said, “Overall participation has decreased but some engaged players are spending more time and money gambling on certain products”.

Data from operators revealed that the number of poker players in the country has increased by about 53% since March. The number of people involved in other gaming activities, like online casinos, has also grown by about 5%. The UKGC further noted that the YouGov research shows that at least 34% of the adults recalled seeing a marketing ad for casinos, slot games, or online bingo in the last four weeks.

The regulator said that it will continue to monitor the situation further.