Ep 321: UK Gambling Commission’s latest figures and Thailand’s casino ambitions

On today’s episode of iGaming Daily, supported by Optimove, host James Ross is joined by CasinoBeats’ Editor, Joe Streeter, and Senior Journalist, Danny Lee, to explore the latest news in the gaming industry.

The UK Gambling Commission recently revealed a substantial increase in online total gross gambling yield in the first quarter of the 2024 financial year, and the trio discuss the driving factors behind this growth, the implications for the online gambling market and what this means for the future of the industry.

In the second half of the show, the attention turns to Southeast Asia, where Thailand is making waves with its ambitious plans to develop a regulated casino sector with the aim of boosting tourism and uplifting the economy.

James, Joe and Danny delve into the specifics of Thailand’s casino bill, the expected economic benefits and what regional competition it faces as it races towards opening its first casino by 2029.

To read more on the topics discussed in today's episode, click on the following links:

- https://casinobeats.com/2024/08/01/ukgc-gambling-operator-data-q1-2024/
- Thailand continues key developments for casino legislation  - CasinoBeats

Host: James Ross
Guests: Joe Streeter and Danny Lee
Producer: Anaya McDonald
Editor: James Ross

Remember to check out Optimove at https://hubs.la/Q02gLC5L0 or go to Optimove.com/sbc to get your first month free when buying the industry's leading customer-loyalty service.

Creators & Guests

Host

James Ross

Multimedia Editor at SBC Media

Guest

Danny Lee

Business Journalist at CasinoBeats and SlotBeats

Guest

Joe Streeter

Editor of Insider Sport and Payment Expert

What is iGaming Daily?

A daily podcast delving into the biggest stories of the day throughout the sports betting and igaming sector.

Anaya (00:02.574)
Hello and welcome to today's episode of iGaming Daily, supported by OptiMove, as we explore two significant stories that highlight the evolving landscape of gambling regulation and its impact on tourism and economic growth. In the first half of the episode, we'll examine the UK Gambling Commission's recent report, revealing a substantial increase in online total gross gambling yield in the first quarter of 2024. We'll discuss the driving factors behind this growth, the implications for online

it and what this means for the future of the industry in the UK. Then after a quick ad break, we will return in the second half where our attentions will turn to South East Asia where Thailand is making waves with its ambitious plans to develop a regulated casino sector. This legislative push aimed at bolstering tourism and economic uplift is part of a broader trend seen in the UAE and Japan where countries are leveraging the gambling sector for growth.

delve into the specifics of Thailand's casino bill, the expected economic benefits and the regional competition it faces as it races towards opening its first casino by 2029. And joining me to discuss all of the above is Casino Beats' editor Joe Streeter and senior journalist Danny Lee. Joe, you're back after some time off. Did you get up to anything interesting? Yeah, just a little week off, James. Thanks. Thanks having me on today.

Just a little week off, just a recharge of the batteries. Did a few things. What did I do? I, you know, watched a few movies, saw a Deadpool first Wolverine or Deadpool and Wolverine, great movie. And I also went to, I think the first Batman exhibition as well. And that was really cool. There's something to be said for just being around loads of props and loads of things that are in the movie. They're actually in the movie. So yeah, quite a cool experience.

obviously got to see the Batmobile as well, which was pretty sweet.

Anaya (02:06.796)
No. It doesn't work on my lap. It's not... I can try. Is the video not good?

Do have the thingy? This one? That's the USB one. There should be a spare one that I dropped on the floor. Is there one? I'm using a spare one that was there's this one here. Sorry. Sorry, not please. Sorry. I kind of know how to follow on from there. Can we go from the top? Yeah, we won't be using that as a clip, so. No. And if we are, I can just stitch it together. Do I need to?

turn off the Wi

Anaya (02:52.214)
no, we lost Joe.

Anaya (03:04.385)
It's just Joe's laptop is insanely temperamental with anything.

you should probably ask for a new one.

Anaya (03:33.42)
Just got that dinosaur says no internet You you could use to play a game with that dinosaur. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah What do I do to play a game with it? You just click spacebar or something like that. shit. Sick!

No rush mate. I didn't know you could do that. that's really funny. boo boo.

Anaya (04:15.968)
So then two on the far left don't work then? No. Okay, I'll speak to reception about

Anaya (04:29.705)
Yeah, and of course I got to see the Batmobile in real life, which was a very, very cool experience. It was very sweet, very, yeah, pretty breathtaking. Yeah, I'm glad that you mentioned the Deadpool Wolverine that you went to see in the cinema, because I can now name drop that I... shit, yeah, sorry. My bad. thought it would take longer than we had Bet the over's on pauses and distractions.

Anaya (05:00.864)
Yeah, I'm glad you kind of mentioned the Deadpool and Wolverine that you went to see in cinema because I can now brag that me and Joe did go on a little mandate to the cinema together to see it. I was pretty good though, because we couldn't get, well, I couldn't get a Wolverine popcorn bucket or drink cup, which I'd seen online quite a lot. So. Yeah, desperate for merch. And I understood why after the film, because it was such a good film that you really wanted something to remember it by. It was,

Fantastic one. Have you seen it yet Danny at Deadpool Wolverine? No, I've not seen it yet. It is fantastic. But I mean just see the popcorn bucket itself It's like you can even get a Deadpool or Wolverine head and it's got a big lid on it and it looks it's insane It's such a good piece of merch. I was gutted that the cinema didn't have it Slightly suspicious as to why you would want some of those popcorn buckets so much James. Because he loved mint!

Yeah, if you've ever been to James's house, it's just filled with different popcorn buckets all over the place. To be fair, I was also gutted that on the 25th anniversary of the Star Wars Phantom Menace showing, they didn't have the popcorn buckets there that I was aiming to get. So. Shall we move on from popcorn buckets? I was going to say, actually, when your Batman won, like I went to a Star Wars one in London in the 02 and I thought the experience was fantastic. And there's one in Manchester as well with the Jurassic World exhibition.

at the Trafford Centre, which my brother went yesterday, he showed me videos. It looks incredible. Yeah, it kind of seems like it should be underwhelming, right? But when you're there and you're like, this is the belt that Heath Ledger wore in The Joker. It's really cool. You're like, yeah, this is this is actually from the movie. I've seen this. This is very fun. Yeah. I saw like the big T -Rex animatronic in my brother's video and I was like, yeah, I need to go see that at some point this month. Yeah. Yeah. I fancy the

Jurassic Park one that does it does look good. Yeah. Right. We'll move on. But before we delve into the topic, now is a good time to mention the sponsor of today's podcast. And that is OptiMove, the number one CRM marketing solution for the iGaming market. The offer for the first three months still stands. You can click on the link in the description below to access that. Or go to .optimove .com forward slash SBC. Now,

Anaya (07:24.461)
We're going to start with UK slot figures and Danny, I'm going to come to you first because you're the slot speech guy. Can you just provide an overview of some of the key findings from the UK Gamble Commission's recent report on the gambling industry's performance in the first quarter of 2024? Yeah, so lots of healthy growth seen in the first quarter of the 2024 -25 financial year. Obviously,

quite a big quarter in terms of sporting events, so online betting has had a lot to contribute to that as well, but slots has had a particularly strong quarter as well. So there was a 12 % increase in online total gross gambling yield across the quarter and notably slots had a 10 % year -over -year increase in gross gambling yield as well, with the total number of spins and active monthly accounts increasing too.

There was 12 % increase in online total gross gambling yield. What factors do believe have contributed to this growth compared to the same period last year? Yes, I think in terms of betting, obviously having the Euros in that quarter is such a huge competition and I think particularly for the UK with England and Scotland both taking part and of course England playing in every game that they possibly could do but we won't talk too much more about that.

So obviously there will have been a lot of activity from that in each individual game as well. But in terms of slots, it's sort quite hard to often pinpoint just why that sort of sector might be performing so well. Maybe it could be put down to some good cross -selling during those competitions, or maybe also the fact that there are some sort of stricter regulations coming in soon that could maybe have contributed to a bit more sort of marketing and promotional stuff from operators.

That cross -selling factor is really interesting to be fair. mean, we all know just how busy the sporting calendar was over the summer. We know that there were only slight gaps between the Euros and the copper America. perhaps. the Olympics. Yeah, even with the Olympics now, obviously not as big a betting product, but still one that brings people to the sports book. I wonder if that's had a trickle down effect or a trickle up effect, I guess, on

Anaya (09:48.862)
slots and on iGaming and led to more players being engaged with slots. think that would be a real golden ticket for operators if it has. yeah, there's definitely lessons to be learned there if so. What you normally see when you get kind of cross -selling acquisitions, what would you call them? Activations. Activations, there we go, sorry. What you normally get when you get these activations from cross -selling is you don't really get

too much engagement longevity wise. What the reports kind of mentioned that is seen a rise in the number of bets and spins as well by 11%. What do you think Danny this tells us about the player engagement and behavior when it comes to these newly acquired players? Yeah well it clearly tells us that sort of suppliers and operators are doing something right when it comes to keeping players engaged.

It's hardly a surprising thing when you think about how much these sort of companies, like in terms of time and resources and effort put into making their games engaging and keeping players entertained and making them want to come back for more. And particularly sort of big players in the slot space are constantly trying to innovate with the new games they're bringing out, the new product launches, stuff to excite players and keep keep players coming back to operator platforms and think, I've not seen this game yet or I've not seen this sequel yet.

So there's plenty of things that they're doing to sort of, you know, keep audiences entertained. We're seeing more games that are designed to cross sell as well, right? I think we're seeing more games that would tap into a football audience, right? Yeah, definitely. Throughout those two competitions with the Euros and Copa America, mean, Copa America particularly, obviously, we've got a lot of operators trying to have a huge influence in the Latin American market at the moment, particularly with the Brazilian market about to open

hopefully soon. So yeah there was definitely quite a few different releases that were sort of tailored to that sort of Latin American football feel of like street football and stuff like that, while also plenty of suppliers catering to European audiences as well with like different games where I think you could sort of pick whether you wanted to represent England, France, Germany, Spain, you know all the big European footballing countries. So yeah there's certainly been a lot of products that maybe have been tailored specifically for that.

Anaya (12:14.257)
Another interesting figure that came from this report was actually session duration. And it's interesting because there's two prongs to this. So the number of online sessions lasting longer than an hour actually rose by eight per cent, but the average session length stayed at 17 minutes. Danny I'm going to ask you what your thoughts are of this, but I'm questioning what part actually slots streaming.

has played in kind of the definitely the growth lasting over an hour because we've seen so many more suppliers and operators partner with slot streamers you've got like you said your Fruity Slots you've got your Casinogrounds you've got Brian Christopher Slots in the US like it's interesting to see if they're making such an impact but it's also interesting to

Because previously a lot of, sorry I had to take the mic, a lot of slot streamers actually left the UK market because of how strict, not the UK regulations were, but it is getting that way now with the state limits, but how strict the terms and conditions for the UK market on their streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube kind of played a big part in them moving. Yeah, you'd imagine it's quite a huge contributing factor. I mean, if it's not necessarily a

playing in the UK, like you say a lot of them have moved out of the UK because of regulations, there was a lot of viewers there that would like to play along and there's a whole company now, LiveSpins, who offer that to their players being able to play along with the streamers so it's clearly something that players like to do. But yeah, it's really interesting finding the fact that we've seen a lot more sessions, a lot more active accounts as well, while also the average session time has sort of stayed

around the same length. Sorry, a lot more sessions as in... Sorry, I'll start that again. Yeah, so it's quite an interesting finding from the report, the fact that there's a lot more sessions that are lasting longer than an hour, whereas the average session time stayed around the same time as 17 minutes. Now, you've got to think that lots of of slots are now maybe catering to players that don't have loads of time to put in to a game session. So there's...

Anaya (14:35.663)
different slots that will offer you bonus feature within the first 100 spins and then you might think maybe people are just getting to that level and then maybe clocking off and coming back at another point. yeah, I suppose it could be put down to number games offering those quick experiences that maybe more aimed at younger audiences or the next generation of players as we like to say. But yes, I do think you could be onto something there with the stream and that could be contributing a lot to longer gaming sessions definitely.

I remember from the Casino Beat summit in Malta, one of the panels talking about slot mechanics and slots engagement. One of the things they said is, you know, so much goes into games and a large number of these games are played on a mobile device portrait while somebody's traveling, which really speaks to the kind of short game time, but they're very engaged while they're playing. it's a short engagement time.

Yeah, interesting to see how players have evolved, I guess. Yeah, instant gratification is the new go -to for a lot of suppliers and operators when they're making and kind of delivering these slots to the players. So I'm not a huge fan of it. I really do love the base game anticipation of kind of getting teased for that feature to be triggered. And then that gratification

I've invested so much time into this, I've got this, what am going to get from it? That's why I'm probably a bigger fan of the cabinet retail space. I've had so much more enjoyment through that kind of sector, through that kind of experience than online. But I also think 17 minutes is actually quite a long time in comparison, maybe for my own personal experience. 17 minutes, I don't know if you're playing on a phone that's quite...

I don't know. It's not even one episode of The Simpsons. So maybe it's my personal experience, kind of a low stake. I guess it's different if you you say you enjoy the cabinet retail experience is a long time to stand somewhere and be where we sit down on the chairs. There's no standing by this book. Perfect. We're going to round off this first half of podcast now. There was quite a few questions I wanted to get into, but we do have to talk

Anaya (16:56.974)
Thailand and we are on a time limit. we're going to take a quick ad break. And when we get back, we're going to Southeast Asia.

Anaya (17:08.492)
Welcome back. We're talking about Thailand now and Joe, I'm going to pass this over to you for the first question to kind of introduce what's happening in Thailand because this is the big story that you broke while you came back. So a nice thing to sink your teeth into. Yeah, yeah, obviously a big... Do want to rephrase that? I didn't really break it. kind of... Does that mean like I...

it broke when I was away. sorry. Yeah, obviously a massive story to come back to. There's been we've we've we've had a lot of back and forth in Thailand over the past few months. The bill has been it's been touted. It's had large governmental backing. There's not really been too much objection. I think the country can see just how big it would be.

It's also attracted much attention from operators, as I'm sure you can imagine. Obviously, the Southeast Asia region is massive, and the Asian region in general is massive for gambling. see with Macau being such a hub. There is real opportunity here, and now we are firmly on the path to legislation. The bill has gone back for public feedback.

And they have until August the 18th for this to be completed. So, you know, we're dealing very much in the near future and there's lots and lots of optimism that the bill will be pushed and we will be we will have the first casinos in Thailand in 2029. And can you just give kind of a key breakdown of the components of that bill? Yeah, so.

at the heart of the bill. One of the things, so it's not been finalized yet, we are a bit premature talking about these, but one of the things is that the gambling resorts development in these resorts don't exceed five per cent of the total project area and they act as something of the entertainment venues rather than

Anaya (19:31.667)
straight up gambling venues, which is very interesting, right? And it taps into this, this kind of fun economy that Thailand's trying to build rather than becoming just a gambling hub. Is that kind of similar to the Integrated Resorts that are kind of developed in Japan? Yeah, I think so. I think so. And it's really looking to boost

overall tourism prospects of Thailand, which is obviously already a tourist hub. Yeah, you've already mentioned that the bill's been, you said it's been pushed to the public to get their opinions. What's the feedback been on this current casino bill? I don't

don't really know about public feedback, I'll be honest. I can go to the next question.

So.

Anaya (20:31.895)
As part of this new casino bill, there's potentially going to be a newly formed regulatory body that's going to oversee these casinos. How will it ensure fair and effective regulations? Well, what we do know about this, obviously, we're in the infancy of this regulatory body being formed. We know that it will be based in Bangkok, but

opportunity and potential for it to be expanded to other regions depending on where it's needed. It will monitor operations of these venues, deal with things like public grievances and also obviously all the safer gambling things that come off the back of that, know, not enabling people to enter. And there'll be a real focus on this, especially with what's going on in the Philippines as well.

There's been some trouble. We've covered it on this show. So there'll be a real focus on ensuring that things are clean, things are kept tidy. yeah, it will comprise of nine senior government officials from different governmental departments. And they will look over these things, including tax rates, which, yes, aren't yet established exactly what they will be. yeah,

It's a work in progress right now, but it seems like developments are really being made. Yeah, one of the key things and this is. From my point of view, this is probably one of the key driving forces behind this new regulation. has to be the tourism and economic boost that Thailand will get from this. It's it's no it doesn't allude anyone that Thailand is such a huge tourist destination anyway.

But how do you think the Thai government envision casinos boosting tourism in the region? And what other entertainment revenues are kind of included in these plans? Yeah, well, as you mentioned, it really needs to just enrich the overall tourism attraction of Thailand. And the fun economy is something that. I'm going to have a go at it. Suretha Thavisin, the Thai prime minister anyway, has

Anaya (22:56.841)
really tried to focus on and really tried to boost and the casino, the regulation of casinos and the growth of the casino market in the region is a route that they feel is just the most beneficial and because of what comes with it, not just the gambling sector, but also these entertainment venues. You got that out of

these entertainment venues that could be off the back of this and they could really be a hub for big events and things like this. it's a strategy that we've seen replicated as well. There's obviously a bit of a race at the moment in Southeast Asia with Japan who are trying to legalise casinos and they see the benefit. And then not too far away from that, in Abu Dhabi, where

Casinos are you know that the slow process of legalizing casinos it is continuing and Undoubtedly there they will be not just Places where people go to play blackjack and cards but places that are this real center for entertainment and Center for concerts and even sporting events things like that really I guess Replicating the kind of Vegas feel but with their own their own tint on it

Yeah, looking to boost the economy. Yeah. First off, apologies to the Thai Prime Minister, if Joe's actually a budgetary name. But you've already mentioned the comparisons to the UAE and Japan. What are the similar efforts taken from Thailand to the UAE and Japan? Briefly.

Anaya (24:54.208)
Yeah, could you say it?

Anaya (24:59.819)
to move on to another question. Is that okay? Yeah, yeah, I'll round it off. Yeah, yeah. we got to the end. Nice. Yeah, yeah. Let me see if I've got anything to add. I'll start again from apologizing. actually, I do have one thing I could say, but it kind of goes in. I could go in at the beginning, I guess, but. Nah, we'll round it off. Yeah, so first off, apologies to the Thai prime minister for Joe absolutely butchering, well, potentially butchering your

I'm going to do it again.

First off, apologies to the Thai Prime Minister if Joe butchered the pronunciation of your name. But let's round off this podcast now and just kind of looking at what interests there are from operators. Your article already mentioned there's operators like Genting, RIA and Thailand for potential ventures. Do you know of any other operators who are looking to enter that market and what advantage does Thailand offer to these operators compared to other countries in the region?

Genting is the one and they kind of quietly revealed that they're looking at the market and obviously they have a big presence in that region anyway. it's inevitably going to be a big allure for them to kind of just be the have their branding at the center of this place where there's so much football. It's a real global global place for people to visit. And the proposed law does actually mandate that 30 year casino licenses.

which are renewable for an additional decade off the back of that. So there's a real long -term opportunity for casinos that want to become synonymous in Thailand and want to have their brand just placed in one of the biggest regions in the world for global tourism. Perfect. This will

Anaya (26:55.912)
a continuing story that the Casino Beats team will cover. keep your eyes glued to the Casino Beats website. Anything that we've discussed on the podcast today, I will leave links in the description below with further information for you to seek out. But apart from that, I've been James Ross. I've been joined by Joe Streeter and Danny Lee. And this has been iGaming Daily. Thank