UK Football Betting By The Numbers

The modern UK gambling industry is one of the biggest in the world. Thanks to the changes made by the Parliament in 2005, it also happens to be the most regulated industry anywhere on the globe.

The UK Gambling Commission has issued close to 800 licenses to betting companies since the new law was passed. Based mainly in the UK, Malta, and Gibraltar, these companies constitute the gambling industry in the country.

As for the player base, the numbers are certainly very impressive indeed. Close to 69% of the UK population had placed a wager on a sporting event at least once a year, and this was the figure in 2012. But the latest industry figures estimate that only around half the population gamble, and that is when you take into account national lotteries.

So a safe estimate of regular gamblers would place the figure in the UK somewhere in between 20% -30% of the population. With the current population at 66 million, that would mean that around 20 million people in the UK have a gambling habit of some sort.

According to the Gambling Commission figures, the entire industry in the UK was worth around £14 billion in 2017-18. Of that figure, a third came from online gambling, which came to around £5.6 billion. But it has to be remembered that online gambling includes sports betting, casinos, and other forms of gambling entertainment.

With almost £2 billion worth of best coming from online and offline betting, football seems to be the clear choice for UK players in the field of sports betting. The betting industry in the UK has deep ties with the sport due to this reason.

And nowhere is this more visible than in the top two divisions of football in England. We are talking about the Premier League and the Championship. And to be more precise, we are talking about club sponsorships.

Out of the 44 clubs in the top two divisions, 27 have betting company logos on their shirts. This includes half the clubs in the Premier League and more than half the teams in the next division. This includes medium-sized teams like West Ham, Everton, Newcastle, Watford, and Crystal Palace.

The heavy involvement of gambling companies in football has also drawn quite a lot of criticism from many politicians and media. The Gambling Commission has also cracked down hard in recent years on the marketing side of the industry, to protect children and problem gamblers.

The major betting brands have responded by voluntarily placing a ban on ads during live matches. This is important, since the vast majority of football bets and placed during the match itself.

Regardless of these new developments, football betting shows no sign of slowing down in the UK. Interest in the Premier League remains at an all-time high with exciting title showdowns between Manchester City and Liverpool at the forefront. The UK gambling industry will continue to depend on football for its revenues into the foreseeable future.