The Popularity of Lotteries and Scratchcards vs. Online Casinos in Wales – Herald.Wales

The online gambling sector in the UK continues to go from strength to strength, with the number of active online accounts rising 4% from April 2022 to March 2023 over the previous twelve-month period. The total gross gambling yield in that period had also increased to £15.1 billion. So there’s little doubt that gambling remains popular.

An interesting report supporting that, was released by the Welsh government last year. It published results of a wide-reaching survey into life in Wales between the period from April 2022 to March 2023. It provided a wealth of insights about everything from environmental behaviours, to work, dental health and internet usage.

A section on gambling was also included, highlighting the typical habits of gamblers in Wales, ranging from the sex, age and preferred type of betting. It’s easy to jump online and see that there is a casino with instant withdrawal options, bonuses and a huge range of gaming options available to register with. But it was neither slots nor table games that proved to be the most popular form of wagering in Wales.

The Appeal of Lotteries and Scratchers

The results of gambling from the National Survey pinpointed lotteries and scratchcards as being the most popular forms of gambling in Wales. It was by a long distance over other gambling options like betting in-person at bookmakers and playing online poker.

So why the appeal of lotteries and scratchcards? In the UK, the National Lottery is the most popular form of gambling, dominating all other areas. The overarching appeal of it is that it gives players a chance at a potentially life-changing sum of money in one fell swoop. 

It’s also an easy game to play, with low stakes and accounts can be set up to make automatic recurring weekly plays. Scratchcards bring a slightly different angle, with the appeal of them potentially giving the player an instant win, scratching that itch of instant gratification. Physical scratchcards are easily accessible on the High Street as well, complimenting online scratchers.

Gambling Activities by Sex

The report surveyed more than a thousand players aged 18+ or above, the legal age for gambling in the UK. 58% of men reported that they had played the lottery or had bought scratchcards within the last twelve months, only slightly beating the 57% of women who responded that they had.

So there was very little variance there, unlike in some other areas like online casinos and online sportsbooks. 16% of men reported that they had undertaken remote gaming on sports or games for money within the previous 12 months, compared to only 7% of women.

No Gambling

The only part of the survey results that showed females ahead of males was in the No Gambling results, finishing a couple of percentage marks higher than the 35% of males surveyed who said they hadn’t gambled within the previous 12 months.

The Overall Picture

The Gambling Commission, which oversees all gambling within Wales, also produced some interesting results from the same period. It was a more specific gambling report looking at the industry across Great Britain as a whole.

The entire remote gambling industry in Britain, including casinos, sports betting and bingo, returned a £6.5 billion gross gambling yield (GGY) in the April 2022 to March 2023 period. The leading sector within that was online slot games, which accounted for almost half of the entire GGY and continues to dominate all online gambling.

One of the notable changes came in the number of physical betting premises in Great Britain, which showed a drop. The number had decreased from the previous year, but surprisingly that hadn’t stopped a 2.5% increase in non-remote gambling on things like casino machines and bingo. Despite less choice of locations, in-person still appears to be thriving in Great Britain.

The Lottery Picture

As for lotteries, there was also another increase in the amount of National Lottery ticket sales in Great Britain compared to the previous year’s numbers. That was a 1.1% rise for a total of £8.2 billion played. But how much of that went back to players in winnings from the National Lottery revenue? It was £4.7 billion, with £1.7 billion going towards good causes.