Lottery Helps UK Reach New Online Gambling Numbers
The percentage of adult residents in the UK that play at some form of online gambling site reached the highest it's been in the four years the Gambling Commission has released figures. The survey found 9.9 percent, just shy of one in every ten, had gambled on the Internet within a year.
The growth of lottery sales on the Internet is a major cause of the increase. Almost half of all who said they gambled online were speaking of a lottery purchase. Other online gambling participation has steadily grown, but not nearly as fast as lottery playing.
Lottery plays were made online by three-quarters of all Internet gamblers. Sports betting is another lottery feature drawing heavy action, with one in four online players placing a bet on a game or match.
Of all who had gambled online, 43.5 percent played exclusively on lottery games.
The British figure is still far higher than current US participation, which the American Gaming Association places at 2 percent. If US players mirror those in the UK, and adjusting to remove lottery players, online casinos may see as many as three times as many patrons if regulation comes to the US.
