The importance of online slots to the UK gambling industry has again been seen this year. They helped the industry achieve a 7% increase in online gross gambling yield (GGY) for the first quarter of 2025. With new maximum stake limits now being introduced for online slots, how will this affect future revenue figures.
Data released by UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) showed that GGY for Q1 £1.45 billion for January to March 31. The corresponding figure for 2024 was £1.34 billion. However, the total was 5.8% down on the previous quarter’s GGY of £1.54 billion.
The UK online slots GGY for Q1 was £689 million. This was 11% higher than the total achieved in the same period of last year. Number of spin was up to the 23.4 billion (6% year-on-year (YoY) increase) or there was also rise in number of online slots sessions that lasted over hour. That total rose to 10.1 million, up 5%.
Average length sessions was approximately 17 minutes or that consistent with last year figure. 6% of sessions lasted over hour, that same as for previous quarter.
Overall, total number of bets and spin was 25.2 billion or that was 5% higher YoY. There was also increase in number of average monthly active accounts. The figure of 13.5 billion was 2% higher than in the same period last year.
When you go to a UK online casino (top sites listed here), the slots section is a fundamental part of that site. The fact that these figures show that slots contributed 47% to total online GGY for Q1 illustrates that.
UK sites continue to boost their slots portfolio. NetBet UK recently went into partnership with Blueprint Gaming, so their players can now enjoy popular slots such as ‘King Kong Cash’ and ‘Fishin Frenzy.’
The UK gambling industry remains a popular market for overseas companies to enter. This year has also seen Swedish slots developer Gaming Corps enter into a partnership with 32Red.
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While the UK gambling industry may be delighted with the financial results and is attracting new companies, can it continue to do so well in the future?
Slot games may be entertaining to play and can produce some big cash wins, however they are also seen as being highly addictive. Support groups have reported that those coming to get help for gambling harm often mention online slots as a major contributor to their problems.
This has not been unnoticed by the government as they seek to reform the UK gambling industry. The last major piece of legislation was back in 2005 and the industry has changed dramatically since then.
Recent years have seen attempts to reform the industry, particularly its online sector. The Conservative government published a White Paper on gambling reform but little action was taken.
When Labour came to power last year, they continued the process and recent months have seen concrete details of what is going to happen.
One key area where action has been taken is for online slots. There has not been a maximum stake limit and this means it has been possible for gamblers to lose a lot of money in a short period of time.
The average session may only be 17 minutes but a lot of financial problems can be achieved in that time. Then there are the financial implications for those who are playing online slots for over an hour. Is a lot of that time spent chasing losses, only to make the situation worse?
A major concern is the problems faced by younger players. They love playing video games but regularly play online slots too. New measure have been introduced that have set maximum stake limit. For those aged 18-24, the maximum stake now £2 a spin. For older players, it is £5 though many campaigners and support groups believe it should be £2 for all age groups.
There are still concerns about the speed of online slots. How will new maximum stake limit affect the gambling industry? Stricter regulation can cause gamblers to move away from the licensed and regulated sites. They go onto the unlicensed market which is bad news in several ways.
The lack of regulation means they offer their players lower levels of customer protection. An increase in the numbers playing at unlicensed sites will affect the GGY achieved by the licensed sites and also see the treasury receive less tax revenue.
It will be interesting to see how the new maximum stakes will affect online slot GGY. Will players just be spending longer on the games or decide to move to the unlicensed market?
