Will the Latest Easing Reverse the Surge in Online Gambling

As the UK takes tentative steps on Boris Johnson’s roadmap, will we see a drop in the number of people gambling online?

2020 saw a surge in people wanting to play online games with friends and family.  According to data from Pi Datametrics, the term “play poker online with friends” saw one of the biggest year-on- year growth on Google in the UK last year, compared to 2019.  Searches for poker games online saw over a 3000% increase.

As the nation looks forward to a summer filled with socialising and events and maybe even holidays abroad, will our attention to online entertainment wane?  

Craving social interaction and getting outside is probably at the top of most people’s agendas for the next few months.  But over the past year we have seen people turn to their phones and tablets during the lockdowns in the UK.

We saw a big increase in people using their smartphones.   46% of people in the UK claim they have increased use of their smartphone since 2019. 

And this is only going to increase.  Data predicts that by 2024, the number of monthly active smartphone users is projected to grow steadily and reach 61.06 million individuals. This would be an increase of over 12 million new users from 41.09 million users in 2015.

So perhaps we’ll see a reduction in the amount of people online gaming but there’s definitely a new audience who have discovered the fun that’s to be had with gaming with friends and family!