UK Gambling Commission Report Ignores Online Poker

The UK Gambling Commission has just released its Gambling Trends Report for 2008 – 2014, which fails to include any mention of online poker in the UK.

Online gambling in the UK is an industry estimated to be worth £2.83 billion a year. Of that £2.83 billion, 19% is attributed to revenues from online poker. When you take into account that online poker revenues are generated from the rake and fees charged by online poker sites to play their games, the amount of money being passed across the tables during a year is colossal.

Nonetheless, in the recently released Gambling Trends Report 2008 – 2014, the authors dedicate more space to the fact that women are more likely than men to play bingo than they do about any form of poker. Possibly the omission of online poker was because nobody thought to ask the question, or because online poker players do not regard poker as gambling. But you would think that a multi-million pound activity might have got a mention. Wouldn’t you?

Few Surprises Elsewhere

Elsewhere within the 52-page report, there were few surprises. The authors made a big thing about remote gambling (betting on the Internet and from mobile devices) increasing by 50%, but did not take into account that in 2008 only 56% of UK households had broadband Internet (increased to 83% by 2014) and that mobile devices were not as advanced then as they are now.

Furthermore there were no betting, casino or online poker apps six years ago and, since their introduction, there has been a significant increase in the marketing of mobile gambling. Interestingly – and we are hope you are reading this Mr Sheldon Adelson – the increased availability of remote gambling actually resulted in an overall decline of betting activity.

How Much Money You Have Influences Your Gambling Habits

In other areas of the report that offered no new insight into gambling trends, it was revealed that people who are more affluent are more likely to gamble that people who are skint – especially if they have a computer – and that unmarried men spend more time gambling than those who have wives (children, a mortgage, 2.4 dogs and who have to take their holidays at the most expensive time of the year).

There was more stating of the bleedin´ obvious when it came to age demographics. Participation in remote gambling by the 35-54 age group saw a notable increase from 10.6% to 17.6% since 2008 – when 33% percent of that age group would have been aged between 28 and 34 years – and gamblers under the age of 35 (unmarried, no kids, no mortgage, more time) were more inclined to engage in a variety of gambling activities.

Apparently Online Gambling is a Smart Occupation

The authors of the UK Gambling Commission´s report also came to the conclusion that gamblers with university degrees were more likely to gamble online due to their higher level of numeric, verbal and other skills. What was not taken into account was that gamblers with university degrees usually have better paid jobs and more money to gamble with! And what verbal skills do you need to play online poker anyway?

Overall the Gambling Trends Report 2004 – 2008 does nothing more than employ a team of researchers for a few years and irritate homeowners with a load of unsolicited phone calls. This is what your tax money goes on people – and they couldn’t even remember to include online poker in their research.