Study: UK Online Gambling Advertising Booming

British online gambling has expanded even more quickly in the past few years than most would have expected, and the growth has been led by a thirst for sports betting, according to newly published UK Online Gambling Intelligence Report.

Growth figures

Online gambling advertising has increased by 1,386 percent in the UK since 2007, according to the report, which conducted in-depth market analysis of keywords, brands and statistics covering the industry. It pointed out that this advertising growth is indicative of the continuing competitiveness within the gambling sector.

Sports betting dominates online gambling, accounting for 45% of all search impression volume, it found. During 2012, the search impression volume from mobile devices grew 75%, with sports betting again account for the largest share. Horse racing was the largest segment with sportsbooks, whether judging by search volume or revenues.

Leading brands

Unsurprisingly for a report conducted by a British firm, William Hill’s online sportsbook was found to have come out on top of its competitors for sports betting revenue and search volume. Online casino and online poker were both led by rival 888, which the report said achieved its success through an aggressive strategy across organic and paid search.

Other major brands to compete strongly across multiple platforms (sports betting, casino, etc) were Ladbrokes and PokerStars. Intercasino was one operator to see “a dramatic downturn in their organic performance,” the report said, although it pointed out that this may be partly due to the historical impact of a Google algorithm update.