The Gambling Commission has published operator data showing how gambling behaviour in the UK is changing as a result of the pandemic and economic environment.

The data comes from both online and in-person gambling from licensed betting operators (LBOs).

Online total gross gambling yield (GGY) amounted to £1.2bn ($1.44bn) for Q1 (April 2022 to June 2022), representing an increase of nearly 1% from Q4 (January 2022 to March 2022).

The total number of bets and spins increased by 5% from Q4 to Q1, with a 5% increase in average monthly active accounts.

Slots GGY increased 4% to approximately £565m, with the number of spins increasing by 5% to 18.7 billion. Average monthly active accounts, meanwhile, increased 4% to 3.6 million.

The period saw the average number of slots sessions lasting more than one-hour increase by 5% to 8.4 million, representing approximately 7% of all sessions. The average session length was 17 minutes, representing a one-minute decrease.

LBO GGY rose to £584m, an increase of 6%, with the total number of bets and spins increasing by 3% to 3.3 billion.

The Commission outlined that it expects operators to remain vigilant to the vulnerability of some customers, amid the UK’s pandemic recovery and current economic climate.

The Commission went on to issue guidance to operators, impelling them to continue following strengthened protocols issued during the first lockdown, intervene directly when triggers are reached, avoid exploiting the current situation and adhere to affordability checks with new customers.

Finally, the Commission confirmed that it will continue to work towards permanently strengthening regulations, with planned changes to Remote Technical Standards and Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice.