Betting Habits in the UK – Changes Are Apparent

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If we take a look at the past year, we could hardly think that nothing has changed in the gambling world. Of course, this is not a sector that was hardly struck by the Covid-pandemic. But it still had its own effects on gambling habits! The Gambling Commission just conducted a survey on the betting habits in the UK – and it backs this fact up squarely.

The pandemic and the lockdowns all over the world hit several fields and sectors hard during the past year. Hospitality, traveling-related firms, cultural fields – just to mention a few. But gambling has not been one of them – although they had to close casinos for over a year. (At some places they are still not open yet.) But the fact that the sector is still alive and well does not mean that the difficulties did not have any effects on it. Especially on the way people are gambling all over the world. Well, for now, we can only speak about the UK, since the Gambling Commission of the country conducted a survey on the betting habits of its residents. And what did it point out? Let us see!

About the study

The Gambling Commission of the UK has the following mission: ”We license, regulate, advise and provide guidance to the individuals and businesses that offer gambling in Great Britain, including the National Lottery in the UK.” They are also on to ”raise standards in the gambling industry, protect children and the vulnerable and keep crime out of gambling.” And therefore, it conducts surveys on the topic of gambling from time to time. They carried out this study last year with a sample of 8000 people. And it obviously shows that Covid-19 led to some changes in where people place their bets. Of course, online gambling news sites in the UK are here to give some more information about the changes in betting habits in the UK. So, here are the most important bullet points.

Betting habits in the UK

The Gambling Commission just published the results of the above-detailed survey. First, it shows something that might not come as a big surprise. 2020 was a great year for online gambling sites in the UK, such as Bwin. You might ask why. Well, 96 percent of bets were placed at home – that meaning on online platforms. With that, fewer gamblers were placing bets while commuting – also not surprising. And fewer gamblers placed bets from their workplaces – which is also an evident change. There was however a slight increase in the number of gambling accounts of customers.

On the other hand, it is not so obvious change in the betting habits of the UK, that there was a setback in the number of bets placed from mobile phones. And that is something that broke a 3-year ongoing increase. The results also showed that more people started to bet on e-sports. And there is another type of wagering that became more popular over the past year: in-play sports betting.

And what now?

As we were implicating, many of these changes were not completely surprising, since they show the obvious responses from gamblers all over the country. What is exciting is to see what comes next. Did wagers get used to gambling as they did during a lockdown? Will they go on with their new habits? Will they get back to their old customs? Or maybe: will they generate completely new betting habits in the UK? Well, this is up to the Gambling Commission to conduct a survey for the next time. Until then, we can still expect platforms like Bwin to provide their customers with the experiences. And we have to wait until next year to see how this transition period turns out!

You can discover more about Bwin Sportsbook here.