Gaming's Not So Quiet Revolution Gaming-thought-leadership | Page 4

Gaming’s not so quiet revolution: The changing face of the UK punter
THE CHANGING MARKETPLACE
Many things have changed in the gaming industry since the deregulation of
TV advertising a decade ago. The number of betting ads on TV has rocketed
during this period. Marketing budgets have ballooned as the competition
in the sector has become fierce, with total category TV spend rising to a
whopping £118.5m during 2015*.
Evolve or die has become the mantra of the old-school bookmaker. Betting
shops now take much of their revenue from fixed-odds betting terminals
or other self-service machines. They offer their customers the opportunity
to bet across the channels, whether that be in a shop, or on a desktop,
smartphone or even a wearable device.
From online spread betting on shirt numbers to the world of
“cash out”, the industry is nearly unrecognisable to what it
was 20 years ago.
But what about the punters? How have they reacted to the changing
face of the gambling industry? To find out, the Opinium Sports & Leisure
research team spoke to 1,500 punters to gain an insight into their habits and
behaviours in the new digital world of gaming.
The digitised betting world tends to be for a younger, more upwardly
mobile audience, although the sweet spot remains among 35-54-year-old
ABC1 males, despite the significant marketing budgets aimed at the highly
desirable and much targeted 18-34-year-olds.
*Source: Guardian 15th July 2016
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