Slot sessions lasting longer than an hour saw an increase of four per cent, over 2.4 million, according to figures released by the UK Gambling Commission.
The operator data published by the UKGC reflects the period between March 2020 and July 2021, highlighting the lockdown easing measures in the UK and how online gambling behaviour is responding.
Alongside the increase in slot session length, the report revealed the average length of sessions remained steady at 19 minutes, with nearly eight per cent of all sessions lasting more than one hour.
In addition, the reporting period showed that slots gross gaming yield increased four per cent to £187m during the period from June to July with the number of spins increased by six per cent while active players increased by one per cent.
Responding to the date, a spokesperson for the UKGC stated: “We recognise that the country is now entering a different phase as we continue to adjust to life out of lockdown. We continue to expect extra vigilance from operators as consumers are impacted in different ways by the circumstances.
“Many people will still feel vulnerable as a result of the length of the pandemic period and further uncertainty about their personal or financial circumstances.
“It is likely some have picked up new gambling routines and habits during lockdown that may be hard to change as things return to normal, even as normal spending on other things resumes. This could be challenging for some and important for operators to identify through their monitoring.”
Moreover, the data from the UKGC highlighted that overall activity in the online market remained relatively stable in July as active players stayed steady while bets increased by five per cent and GGY decreased by eight per cent.
UKGC has used operator data reflecting the months from March 2020 to July 2021 and covers data gathered from digital gambling operators. The latest update published by UKGC contains operator data from July 2021.
The UKGC continued: “We know that some consumers, such as highly engaged gamblers who play a range of products, are likely to spend more time and money gambling and with high level sporting events which took place over the summer where there were more opportunities for betting customers to gamble.
“This is relevant to the July dataset reported as it covers the latter half of the Euro 2020 tournament and remains relevant in the future months when the Premier League restarts.”