Preference trends of UK iGaming customers

The United Kingdom has long been one of the world’s premier online gambling markets. Stewarded by the Gambling Commission, the industry has been able to thrive thanks to the strict rules put in place and the balance struck between tight regulation and the free market.

A clear showing of the prominence of the industry in the country can be seen on Premier League football shirts. Although, per The Guardian, from the 2026/27 campaign, the brands will be limited to sleeves and hoardings rather than being primary, middle-of-the-shirt sponsors. Even with this, gambling will continue to thrive.

Being such a competitive and relatively open market, spotting the preference trends of UK customers is key for existing brands to remain popular and new brands to break in and create more competition. In a new report, it’s made clear that British bettors are drifting away from what was once a staple of the experience.

Changing preferences of British bettors

Since the online casino industry set up shop in the UK nearly two decades ago, players have reliably been able to expect a welcome bonus when signing up. For the glut of this time in operation, the welcome bonus would be a deposit match of some percentage to a maximum total and, more recently, bundled were some free spins.

All of this standardised welcome bonus would be subject to wagering requirements. Usually, those requirements would be in the region of 20 to 50-times for the turnover. Essentially, it rendered the bonus, its winnings, and possibly the initial deposit – as it would sometimes be tied into the total offer – incapable of returning real money winnings.

It made sense from a business standpoint, but as the competition ramped up, more and brands would turn to bonuses that would erase one of these two main requirements. As the report from KingCasinoBonus finds, UK players now gravitate to these bonuses that either don’t require a deposit or are free of wagering requirements.

The report’s team relays that players appreciate the chance to try games without committing real money, which is why even five free spins when offered as a free spins no-deposit offer was claimed by 32 per cent of players. On the no-wagering bonus front, free spins were the big seller compared to deposit bonuses without wagering.

According to the report, the different was stark, indeed. Free spins with no wagering had an 83 per cent claim percentage compared to 17 per cent of deposit bonuses without wagering. Simplicity is seen as being key to these as they bonuses clearly just return whatever the player wins from them.

A focus on slots while bucking conventional thinking

Conventional thinking used to dictate that you needed to slap a big figure on gambling advertisements to attract the most players. A matched deposit of up to £800, for example, would be immediately eye-catching on a website ad banner, especially because it was the “£800 Bonus” part that players would notice first.

Still, the trends of the UK gambling public clearly show that the size of the bonus isn’t what matters. Instead, it’s all about being able to try before you buy or getting real value in return. On top of these, it’s been made clear that free spins are the most attractive form of bonus, which aligns with the Gambling Commission findings that £3.2 billion of the £4 billion gross gambling yield generated by online casino games came via slot games.

Clearly, when a British casino player goes looking for a new platform, free spins will be at the forefront of their wants, as will a bonus that either doesn’t require a deposit or isn’t tied to wagering requirements.