The UK online casino market records record GGY. Did video slots, table games, or sports betting make up for the majority of these rises? (Photo by Aarón González on Unsplash)
In the UK online casino and gambling market, major stories report that the GGY for Great Britain has hit new highs the 2000/2001 tax year results are made official. In other news, the UKGC has shown just how serious it can be by teaming up with the law and jailing a man for fraud.
Firstly, we look at the impressive figures reported by the UKGC. Although the rise in remote gambling GGY will not be met with enthusiasm across the board because some will see this as Britain having a gambling problem epidemic on its hands. However, those figures do reflect several months of lockdown when people were at home and more likely to turn to video slots, table games, live dealer games, eSports, and virtual sports. It is unlikely the 2021 to 2022 results will beat these figures and thus this last year will most likely have an Asterix placed next to it in the archives.
Video Slots Made up for £2.91bn of the UK’s GGY
For much of that time, live sports had been suspended, so the results increased the iGaming side of the industry. In fact, online casinos made up for £4.02bn of the GGY which was 22.4% higher than 2019 to 2020s results. And it was video slots that took the limelight with £2.91bn o the total GGY which was up 22.2%. Online Betting also grew 13.6% despite the many sports closures. In total, it made up for £2.65bn of the GGY. Revenues from the UK’s growing online bingo revenue rose 7.5% to £189.1m.
UKGC: Edinburgh Man 50 Jailed for Misusing Lottery Profits
A man has been sentenced to three months in jail for depriving the charity he manages of its lottery contributions worth £285,000. The man who has been named as 50-year-old, Simon Rydings, from Edinburgh, has also been ordered to pay £1000 in compensation to the Sheffield Hospitals Charities once he has completed his jail term. Once leaving prison, Rydings has a limited payback period of 18 months.
Rydings trial was held at Birmingham Magistrate’s Court, where the court was made aware of how Rydings did not pass on lottery proceeds, which amounted to £285,000. At the time, Rydings was working as the Chief Executive Officer of gambling operator, Calpen Limited, which holds an external licence to manage the lottery. The case was prosecuted by the Gambling Commission, and during the case, Rydings did not deny misusing the lottery proceeds in a crime that lasted for just over two years, from 1st January 2018 to 31st of March 2020. Rydings insists that there is no more money left as he was forced to use it to cover all the costs entailed with running a business, and so, he would not be able to return the majority of the £285,000.
Gambling Commission Executive Director, Helen Venn, was clearly disappointed with the manner in which the crime had been committed and wanted it to be known that she believes that lotteries should be run with the intention of bringing good to the local communities in the country. She is aware that charities rely heavily on lottery funding in order for them to be able to continue the good work that they do, then continued to berate Simon Rydings by saying that as a CEO working for a company that holds a Gambling Commission licence has completely failed.
Stories such as this will not do the reputation of the lottery any good, as players buy tickets knowing that even if they don’t win, their money will go towards good causes, and stories like this cast doubt across the whole operation. Helen Venn finished off by saying that any individual who makes the conscious choice to misuse lottery funds as Rydings has, will be subject to swift legal action.
The good news here is that the UKGC is on top of these crimes and ensures that punishment comes at the end of it. In this case, a jail term. It also means that if you want to play at one of the UKGC casinos in our online casino reviews section, you know that those establishments have been fully vetted by a trustworthy licensing authority that will make sure people pay if they commit a crime with your money.
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