How The iGaming Industry Changed UK High Streets

It's no secret that the UK high street is struggling to attract the same number of customers it did in the latter part of the 20th century—a period that many economists deem the golden age of the UK high street. However, there are industries that have bucked this trend, including the iGaming industry.

There's rarely one element that can cause such a significant societal shift, and while the number of gambling providers on the UK high street is at a much higher level than it was in the 1980s, for instance, this doesn't mean that there aren't other factors that have driven customers elsewhere.

The Rise Of Online Casino Platforms

It's exciting to see the contrast between the decline of the UK high street and the rise of gambling companies. Casino gaming and sportsbooks have reached dizzying heights because the market has opened to a global, digital audience.

The emergence of online gambling has meant that millions of people in the UK now gamble on their phones, stemming the demand for land-based providers. Well, that's the theory—but if you walk up and down any UK high street, does it feel like there's less demand for a gambling company?

Land-based casinos and sportsbooks offer different avenues for UK bettors. I use both and can attest that there's a market for each. Online casinos have created subsidiary markets, which is the scope of their success.

Casino review sites such as Casino Sherlock have developed an avenue for experts with many years of experience in iGaming to flex their knowledge and rank the top providers, whether based on the quality of their gaming options, their range of customer methods, or the standard of their bonuses and promotions.

How The Uk High Street Struggled To Adapt

In the 1990s, the UK high street was the go-to place for shopping. The main streets in cities such as London, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Birmingham were littered with household names and were particularly busy during times like Christmas, which was often the benchmark measurement of the industry's strength.

It's not a case of customers falling out of love with the high street; it's just that the emergence of digital competition meant a new contender, and crucially, it is a cheaper and more convenient way to shop. There's no denying that the high street is struggling, and it's unlikely that things will improve any time soon.

Once you weigh up societal pressures, and with more people feeling the pinch over the last four years, finding the cheapest option is often the best policy whenever we do our shopping—and if that's the mantra we use to manage our budgets and keep on top of the latest budgeting and money trends, then the high street is going to continue losing out.

Physical buildings have more overheads and costs than merchants operating exclusively online. They have to pay for things like:

• Expensive rent in prime locations in major cities.
• Electricity bills.
• Transportation to and from the shop.
• Store managers, security guards and customer service staff.

Online merchants have far fewer costs. Some merchants now sell exclusively through social media channels, and some of the bastions of the high street needed to adapt to this digital market rather than face extinction themselves.

Gambling On The High Street

A perfect blend of favourable changes to gambling legislation and a considerable rise in profit margins for UK iGaming companies meant that they were in the ascendency as many high street businesses experienced a downturn.

Due to their new exposure to an international market in the early 2000s, gambling platforms could channel this money into buying property on the high street, growing their reach and appealing to customers who still prefer to visit a physical building.

Retailers, whether bookshops, clothing brands, or supermarkets, have faced online competition from a global market, and many have had to return to the drawing board. In some instances, market providers have had to rethink their business strategy for centuries.

However, as iGaming gathered momentum, and with companies located in the UK market being some of the global leaders, they were able to channel this money into purchasing physical buildings and increasing their presence on the high street.

Combine this with the struggle of small retailers to stay afloat and those household names that could open a digital version of their service managing to stay ahead of the curve, and you have a recipe that has transformed the landscape of the UK high street forever.

Conclusion

The iGaming industry is continuing to speed up, and the iGaming takeover of the UK high street will continue to grow. This change starkly contrasts the sort of variety that existed 20 or 30 years ago, when sports bookies were on the high street next to household names, small businesses, butchers, fruit shops, and other market stalls.

The globalisation of the market has meant that iGaming is one of the beneficiaries of changing customer appetites and attitudes. A mixture of societal and economic factors has driven this change. It's hard to think of an industry that has benefitted more in the British economy over the last 25 years, and ultimately, this success is manifested through the changing look reflected on our high streets.