SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The government of Northern Ireland has published its 2023 report on the state of its gambling sector.
Compiled by the Department for Communities (DfC) for the second year in a row, the paper compares current and previous gambling licensing and industry data in order to organise a strategic approach to the development of gambling policy and legislation in the country.
When it comes to amusement premises with gaming machines, there are currently two types of permits under the Betting, Gaming, Lotteries and Amusements (Northern Ireland) Order 1985.
The first one is for machines with a maximum payout of £25, of which there were 114 permits covering a total of 6,457 gaming machines in 2023. This is a decline compared to the 119 permits in 2022, but an increase of the gaming machines covered (5,901).
The second type of permits is for gaming machines that have a maximum payout of £8, of which 24 existed in 2023 – covering a total of 855 machines. This constitutes an YoY increase, with 18 permits covering 377 gaming machines in 2022.
Moreover, gaming machine certificate permits that allow the holder to supply and maintain gaming machines and their mechanism were in decline, with 31 certificates operational in 2023 compared to the 41 in 2022.
Moving on to lottery certificates, which allow holders to “act as an external lottery consultant or manager”, there were two operational in 2023.
Additionally, licences for society lotteries – promoted on behalf of a society for charitable purposes – were very prominent in 2023, with 124 existing licences renewed and 52 new licences granted.
Turning over to track betting licences, only two horse racing tracks and two dog racing tracks across the whole of Northern Ireland held one in 2023, which were issued by the DfC.
Bookmakers managed to retain their market share, with a total of 103 licences being operational in 2023 – the same as in 2022.
The number of bookmaning office licences, which are required to run an office as a bookmaker, slightly increased to 285 from the 279 in 2022.
In terms of the sector’s economy, data from 2022 shows that a total of 2,240 people were employed in the gambling and betting industry – up from 2,185 in 2021.
Land-based gambling and betting operator turnover however has fallen compared to earlier years. For comparison, it was the highest in 2016 when it accumulated a total of £760m. It’s been decreasing ever since, with 2022 being the lowest at £228m.
However, this does not include online gambling data from operators headquartered outside of Northern Ireland.
