When it comes to the UK gambling industry, the last couple of years have been remarkably positive. With a financial crash and great uncertainty around Brexit, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the industry had completely crumpled and fallen into itself. But it’s not the case! Bookmakers have been steadily increasing profits and the online casino scene has exploded into life with stratospheric growth that’s both helped the industry grow and may prove essential in keeping companies afloat in light of recent developments.
Back in 2005, the Gaming Act allowed bookmakers and casino operators greater freedoms to advertise and also re-enforced the tax laws needed to make sure the government was seeing a share in profits. Recently though, the industry has been having difficulties on that front. The laws have been changed to limit how gambling companies can advertise their offers as a means to protect at risk gamblers, though there are still those demanding a complete ban of TV adverts for gambling companies. Not only that, recently the maximum stake for FOBTs has been reduced to £2 from £100 which is predicted to have a major impact on the bookmakers’ profits over the next few years and could lead to a large series of mergers.
But it’s not all doom and gloom, the future seems to lie online with the profits from remote gambling dwarfing the land based equivalent. For a breakdown of how the industry has done in the last few years, read on.
