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The British gambling and betting industry is today very much regarded as a mainstream leisure activity with a majority of the population participating in one way or another and to a greater of lesser extent. Next to eating out, it is probably the largest out-of-home entertainment. The growing popularity of gambling and betting is partly based on strict regulation, the fact that the industry now enjoys a good reputation for probity and the growing diversity of the product range on offer. For many years the gambling industry has been subject to rapid change, from the introduction of the National Lottery to the current growth of remote gambling (for example, by both fixed and mobile phones, interactive TV or web-based) and the introduction of new products such as Fixed Odds Betting Terminals and betting exchanges. The 2005 Gambling Act brought together changes to the regulatory framework to enable the industry to further diversify and expand its products.
Gambling and betting activities are recognised as a separate class of activity under the official Standard Industrial Classification (SIC 2003, code 92.71) used in the compilation of government statistics. They are defined to include the following:
According to estimates gathered from the Annual Business Inquiry, in 2006 there were over 2,300 employee jobs in the gambling and betting industry in the broader Lancashire area, representing just under 0.4% of all jobs in the sub-region. This compared with a total of 96,600 employee jobs in Great Britain representing 0.4% of the national head count.
Close to 54% of the jobs in Lancashire were held by female employees, 56% of whom worked on a part-time basis. In all, 47% of the jobs for men and women combined were of a part-time nature. Not surprisingly, with about 39% of the Lancashire head count or 900 jobs, Blackpool was the largest single centre of the activity in the sub-region, with a further 26% shared between Blackburn, Lancaster and Preston.
Structurally the activity is highly fragmented, comprising around 280 separate establishments or units across the Lancashire sub-region. More than 87% of establishments employ less than 10 people and all the remainder employ less than 200 people.
One of the larger businesses in Lancashire that is associated with this sector is (External) Crown Leisure . This Chorley based firm has for many years been synonymous with the pay-to-play gaming and the amusement industry in the UK.
Lancaster contains the registered office of (External) NetPlay TV . The company specialises in online, television and mobile gaming. In 2008, it announced that it had taken £159 million of bets in the first six months of the year compared to £39 million in 2007.
The gambling industry in the United Kingdom has undergone a number of changes over recent years however overall tax receipts from gambling have remained relatively static. The (External) UK Trade Info website has details of gaming and betting receipts over a number of years and the national results for 2001/02 to 2005/06 are listed in Table 1.
The receipts in 2002/03 decreased largely due to the modernisation of duties. The reforms to General Betting Duty that were introduced in October 2001 and Pool Betting Duty introduced in April 2002, effectively reduced the duty rate. The reform to General Betting Duty was intended to stimulate growth within the UK industry in response to developments in offshore betting. Receipts were expected to be initially lower than previous years but to rise as the onshore industry expanded.
The British Gambling Prevalence Study is undertaken by the Gambling Commission. The 2007 survey results suggests that 68% of the population (about 32 million adults) took part in some sort of gambling activity over the course of the year (48% excluding the national lottery). The most popular gambling activity in Britain was lotteries, especially the National Lottery, with 57% of the population having bought a national lottery ticket over the year. The second most popular was the purchase of scratch cards, with one in five people purchasing scratch cards over the year. This was followed by horseracing (17%) and slot machines (14%). Online gambling continues to represent only a small proportion of total gambling however this should increase as the internet continues to develop.
Men were more likely than women to gamble overall (71% compared with 65%) and in terms of education, 61% of respondents with a degree gambled whilst 73% educated to GCSE/O-level said that they gambled.
Problem gambling was estimated to be around 1.2%–1.3% of the total and were more prevalent among men and younger age-groups.
Table games in casinos represent only 4% of total gambling. For a number of years, proposals to redevelop Blackpool rested on the introduction of major casino activity in the town, however in February 2008, the regional casino strategy was formally abandoned by the government.
In Blackpool, a major town centre site that was formally the central railway station was earmarked for (External) casino development . Investors are now being sought to provide a general mixed-use leisure development to exploit the potential of this prime town-centre site.
This page was compiled by Bryan Moulding .
All enquiries from the media should be sent to Corporate.Communications@lancashire.gov.uk .
Any other questions about the content of this page may be sent to EconInfo@lancashire.gov.uk .
For all enquiries about the county council's services , contact the Customer Service Centre on 0845 0530000 (01772 530000) or at Enquiries@css.lancscc.gov.uk .
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