During the pandemic, UK gamblers tried more online games.

The coronavirus pandemic was one of the most significant and devastating shocks to our daily lives in recent decades. Individuals often adapt their habits to different situations, but the pandemic saw a significant shift in people's habits, which has persisted even now that lockdown restrictions are being eased.

Throughout the pandemic, online gamblers were given unlimited time to try out different gaming and betting companies, as well as the various games that the operators offer.

According to Find Betting Sites, the UK Gambling Commission claims that there has been an overall increase in the number of active users across various gambling games.

This does not, however, imply that more people began gambling during the pandemic. This is due to the fact that a single gambler who plays, for example, on the online casino, slots games, and roulette will be counted as an active user in the three game categories, and thus, the single player is counted as an active user in all three games.

The UK Gambling Commission reports that the number of active users has increased by 1.5 million over the course of the pandemic, but this does not necessarily mean that a 1.5 million new people in the UK have begun betting and gambling online since the pandemic began.

In fact, gross gambling yield is still GBP 80 million lower than it was before the pandemic.

So, a different scenario for how the online gambling industry looks today is that, regardless of whether there are more or fewer actual individual gamers on the platforms, it is clear that, irrespective of the number of users, they are playing more types of games than before.

This could be because they've been experimenting with more of the gambling and betting industry's offerings.

Whatever the case may be, they are simply conducting more tests, but not necessarily spending more money.

During the pandemic, many of the major betting and gambling service providers ran crazy promotions to attract customers, and as a result, they saw an increase in the number of players and the number of different games they played. However, in terms of raw gross gambling yield, the actual return on investment may have been disappointing.

The core gaming business model has been harmed

Other revenue sources, such as advertising, marketing, and sponsorships, may have increased as a result of increased website traffic, but the core of the business model as it stands now suffered.

Gambling behaviour among consumers has remained remarkably consistent. This is supported by research conducted by the UK Gambling Commission, which found that in all but one month of the pandemic, the average slots game lasted around 21 or 22 minutes.

So, despite the incredible amount of turbulence in the economy, the way the online betting industry operates, and large numbers of new players joining, the core of consumer behaviour has remained relatively unchanged. The pandemic has had no effect on people's habits or consumer behaviour in certain areas of gambling.

There has been no impact on the online gambling industry as a result of the pandemic. Consumer behaviour has remained consistent in some cases, such as with slot games, throughout the pandemic.

However, for the industry as a whole, the increased number of consumers on platforms who have tried a variety of games has not translated into higher, long-term gross gambling yields.

By fLEXI tEAM