High streets around the UK are in decline across the United Kingdom. Retailers are moving to shopping areas where parking is free and also have a huge amount of accessibility as a result. Numerous brands are forced to shut their doors, and a lot of them have managed change their locations online in order to profit from the growing success of this market.
The industry of betting has been one of the areas that has been hard hit due to the declining popularity of the high streets off. There was a time when the streets were buzzing with a buzz of activity, however, for bookmakers, they have been forced to move with the times and go online.
The stats aren’t particularly good reading either. Statistics have been consistently reducing since the 90s and although bookmakers continue to make a decent return in their stores but their popularity is definitely declining. A stigma around the industry and the rise in problematic gamblers (or at least the increase in news surrounding them) has definitely had an impact on how they are perceived.
Number of Betting Shops
At the height of its popularity at the time, the UK boasted more than 16,000 betting establishments across the country. They were in pretty much every city and town typically with multiple brands to choose from with each. The sites that they obtained were high-profile and , as such, were frequently in the heart of most major streets instead of being hidden away up side streets or away from view.
In 2019, it was reported that this figure had been cut to just 8,423, a mere half of the “glory” years. The issue in the present is that these numbers are declining year on year. From 2017 to 2018, the decline was approximately 1.5 percent, which included over 100 stores closing. These numbers appear to be fairly stable , given the recent closings that the industry has experienced.
The numbers appear to be shockingly low when compared to the numbers they were. They’ve actually seen a bit of stabilisation over the last 10 years or so, and it’s only been since 2018 that the numbers have been falling again. Surprisingly, there are more high street betting outlets open today than in 2009, with a peak occurring in 2012 and seeing that increase to 9128 in 2012.
Online & Mobile Betting
Let’s take a look at the initial important change that took out nearly half of the industry. This was of course mainly because of the increased popularity of betting on mobile and online. The first time, people could bet at the convenience at home, or even on the go. There was no need to go into betting shops, and the betting could be carried out discreetly and virtually anonymously if a player wished.
The advent of online betting has changed the gambling industry forever . While the numbers have risen to an industry currently worth PS14.4bn a year in the UK as a whole, the negatives of this success was felt most strongly on the high streets. You even look at the number of track side bookmakers at racecourses. They’ve seen a similar trend in decline as the high street because of people not attending as many races and then betting using their phones while in the racecourse.
To give you an idea about the impact of online gambling in 2019 the news reported that they’d seen the growth of online betting of 2.9% for the year. The market for betting via remote is currently 38.8 percent, a figure that has increased by 6% within just three years. The numbers will keep rising as younger generations of people who were raised with technologies will be able to make use of remote-based products rather than the main street.
The Rise & The Fall of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals
However, there were times of stability for high-street bookmakers. This can be noticed as they have even increased the amount of betting shops they had in the years 2011 and 2012. The principal reason for this was FOBT (Fixed Odds Betting Terminals).
These machines are essentially mini-casinos with games such as Roulette as well as Blackjack. They let punters bet huge amounts of money quickly, and then make huge losses very quickly. They became huge cash cows for betting shops and are one of the main reasons that many betting shops maintained their doors.
You can find the latest bookies opening times here.
However however, the Gambling Commission ordered that the number of machines at each shop had to be limited to just 4 in order to prevent them from becoming more like a casino hall instead of a betting store. This had a direct impact on the bookmakers in terms of their revenues, which were now only a fraction of what they had been earning.
The solution came by simply opening up more stores to have more FOBTs running. Whilst bookmakers would never admit to opening new shops to take advantage of these machines, those in the know were well aware why they were doing it. This is why it was common to find two or more bookmakers from the same brand on the exact same street, just to have more machines running.
As is usually the case everything good must be ended eventually and this is exactly what happened with FOBTs. It was discovered that the Gambling Commission researched that these machines were among the most significant causes of problem gamblers in UK the United Kingdom, a situation that had continued to rise after the introduction of video-based casino games.
To combat this, limitations on bets in the maximum amount of PS2 were added the machines to stop individuals from losing money too fast. The initial change was made in the year 2018, and it’s no coincidence that as the money that machines are now able to make is restricted, the number of betting shops have started to shrink. In actuality, the years 2018 and 2019 have seen the biggest decrease in betting shops in the last 10 years and it looks like this trend will persist but at a slower pace than what many experts had anticipated after the new law was approved.
Brand Dominance
There are four main names that are still active in the market to date. They are William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral and Betfred. Please note it is the case that Ladbrokes as well as Coral are part of the same group, however they continue to operate shops under their original brand names, so bear this in mind whenever you come across information about these two mentioned in this post.
Betfred
The number of stores that are owned by a single company has changed quite a bit over the past decade or more. However, it’s been interesting to find out that not all of them have been declining. Indeed, Betfred are more than double the number of high street betting shops in 2018 than they had in 2009. Their numbers have grown from 806 up to 1667 betting shops and they’re likely to keep this increasing.
Ladbrokes Coral Group
They managed to reach an agreement with Ladbrokes Coral Group in 2017 when they were compelled to sell a portion of their betting stores as part of the merger to satisfy market competition within the UK. This added 322 betting shops in total. It appears that from a statement released shortly after the purchases they intend to expand this number, which it has.
This is a stark contrast to that of both Coral as well as Ladbrokes however, which have been steadily culling a lot of their stores in spite of the merger and sale of 322 stores to Betfred. Ladbrokes have also closed 60 stores since the merger, and Coral closing close to 100. Whilst they still have the biggest combined betting shop portfolio, having around 3,500 stores across the UK and Ireland, it is expected that they move to lower this amount as they continue to sell.
William Hill
William Hill have remained very stable. They have the biggest number of independent betting shops , having 2,298 overall in 2018. The number increased to as high as 2,345 by 2013 but has never been less than 2,238 since 2009. These numbers are really good in the case of William Hill and they are likely to remain steady moving forward, mainly because its size business means they are able to run some stores at break-even, and still be worth their while for branding purposes.
Other Brands Notable to Mention
Outside of these you have “other” bookmakers, that include the likes of Paddy Power, Totesport and Jennings Bet, along with several independent brands. These are the ones that have been the most severely hit and, after a peak of 1,607 stores , there are only 1079, with their numbers falling quickly. It’s going to be difficult to stay competitive particularly since the smaller ones don’t be online either.
Betting Shop Distribution
The northern-south divide is evident in the spread of betting shops throughout the UK. There’s an enormous increase in the number of these stores in northern towns and cities as compared to the southern towns.
In reality, only one town south of Leeds (Aylesbury) gets into the top ten places with the highest proportion of population in a betting establishment. At the top of the list is that of Grimsby where there is a betting shop per 6,721 residents. Grimsby beat out Darlington, South Shields and Huddersfield to take the “crown”. The top 10 teams are as follows:
The 10 towns with the Top Ten Towns with the Most Betting Shops Per Capita
Grimsby
Darlington
South Shields
Huddersfield
Oldham
Stockport
Blackpool
Aylesbury
Pontefract
Bootle
The towns with the lowest number of betting shops per capita include Oxford (lowest with 1 for each 11,398 residents), Ilford, Hayes, Southend-On-Sea and Luton. It is notable that only Rochdale is considered to be an northern town on the list, which accentuates the gap between the south and north.
Top 10 Towns with the Fewest Betting Shops per Capita
Oxford
Ilford
Hayes
Southend-on-Sea
Luton
Smethwick
Houslow
Rochdale
Brentwood
Cambridge
The grim reality of the matter is that betting shops target the most disadvantaged regions, where they perform better than areas with higher incomes in the UK. People with lower incomes are less likely to bet even though they have less money to spend than the majority of people.
Future of Betting Shops
The numbers don’t read well for the traditional high street. Betting is moving online and even though there’s an abundance of betting shops at the minute however, the future doesn’t look very promising. Many think that the limitations of FOBTs could lead to the industry beginning to completely collapse, and this might be true. However, the early indications from these machines being limited haven’t been as dire as we thought. This offers the betting shop optimism.
Also, Boylesports announced in March 2019 that they were heading into the UK initially as a major street bookmaker. They will initially buy the independant book maker, Wilf Gilbert, and acquiring their 13 stores , but stating that this deal is only the start, with around 100 locations expected to be open within the next 12 months.
The interesting thing about the Boylesports situation is that they have never run FOBTs in any of their betting stores in Ireland since they are banned there. They also say they don’t plan to incorporate them in their UK stores either, highlighting the lucrativeness of the high street is still.
We are expecting that more independent bookies will begin to slowly fade off, but. It’s been these numbers that have seen the fastest growth over the last 10 years or so, and we believe that trend will continue. For the established brands, they’ll likely to consolidate what they’ve got right at the moment, and they will probably evaluate their options after the dust has settled about the limitations of FOBTs.