UK Online Gambling Insights

Spring is here, the sun is out (for a while at least) and summer is fast approaching. The Royal Wedding is just around the corner and thousands are counting down the days to the extra bank holiday. Whilst the majority of the UK enjoys staying in the country, many will enjoy taking the opportunity to travel and I’m off to Las Vegas!

With Las Vegas firmly in my mind, I thought it would be a great time to provide some insight into the world of Online Gambling.

The Gambling Market

According to our friends at Mintel the forecast for net expenditure on UK gambling looks set to rise from £7.5 billion in 2011 to £7.8 billion in 2015. Following on from this increased trend, the UK online and interactive gambling market looks to increase from a forecast of £1.6 billion in 2011 to £2.25 billion in 2014.

Online consumption and the increase of mobile gambling is expected to raise the ‘online gambling’ sector’s share of all gambling revenues above the 10% mark. According to Nielsen Net Ratings, Gambling expenditure across Cinema, Direct Mail Door Drops, Outdoor, Press, Radio, TV and Internet (Display only) increased by +17% year on year for 2010 v 2009. The vast majority of advertising is on TV and Press – however the power of Search, Display and Mobile advertising increases the market’s ability to reach customers all at the click of a button. Gambling advertisers are increasing their visibility online, fighting for sign-ups and people’s betting cash.

According to nVision/Ipsos MORI almost 30% of survey respondents (1000 16+ year olds) placed a bet or gambled at least once a month compared to 21% who placed a bet or gambled between 2-3 times a month.

This is impressive, and even more so when noting that out of the same respondents gambled more often than going to the gym, playing any instrument or being a paying spectator at a sports event!

Gambling Insights on Microsoft Properties

Seeing the growth of online gambling through the eyes of 3^rd party research is fantastic, however what does this growth look like on Microsoft Advertising properties? Taking a look at the searches for Gambling related terms we see growth of +38% year on year! January and Feb 2011 in fact were up +31% year on year– a sign of recovery from the financial pinch we all felt? 2010 was clearly a great help for the gambling market, with the World Cup boosting volumes during June and July by +271% year on year.

The power of online gambling enables more variety and access to all forms of gambling, from Sports betting to poker, lottery to bingo. The increased access via mobile will only help further this reach and availability – all at the touch of a button, whether by a mobile site or increased popularity of gambling mobile apps. In a recent blog post by Bet Tracker it stated: “2011 will be the year when mobile betting comes of age, but there are still several large sportsbooks that have been slow to react.” To learn more about building Windows Phone 7 and how to build your own apps for them please visit the Windows Phone 7 App Hub.

Top Gambling Advertisers

The fight for unique visitors is clearly on. Advertisers are increasingly putting their marketing budgets behind their advertising efforts to convince people to sign up to their services. Taking a look at data from Comscore in Feb 2011 we can see which major gambling advertisers were really visible across their display advertising this February. Top of the list was @JackpotJoy followed by PKR, @Gala Coral group, @Free Lotto, @Mecca Bingo, @William Hill, bet-at-home, Camelot and @bwin. “Mainstream gambling sectors such as football pools, lottery and bingo consistently spend most on advertising, reflecting the breadth of the leisure market in which they compete and more casual nature of their customer base.” (Mintel)

Gambling Audience

Gender

Who typically searches for Gambling terms? We can see in the charts below that it’s typically men (52%), however women are not that far behind. Women are largely looking for lottery and bingo related terms whereas Sports betting and Poker terms are more male-dominated.

Age

The 25 – 34 and 35-49 age brackets are the main age groups for traffic with 29%. This target audience fits directly in with the press article the Gambling Commission released earlier this year stating that nearly three quarters of adults (73%) gambled in the previous year (up from 68% in 2007). (Gambling Commission)

Search Demographics

When having a closer look at the audience via the Microsoft Media Network, we can see that it is in fact males are generally clicking more in the 18-24 year old age bracket it is in fact the females that are converting more in this target audience.

Microsoft Media Network Demographics

Days of the Week

Saturdays typically see the largest volume of searches for Gambling terms in the last few months. This is largely attributed to Lottery and Sports betting terms.

Hopefully with this small snippet of insight into the world of online gambling will help you identify potential targeting opportunities for your campaigns. You can find more industry insights on Gambling and other verticals through the Microsoft Advertising Industry Focus site.

Thanks for reading.

Adam