Great Britain Gambling Revenue Reaches £17.5 Billion As Online Casino Growth Accelerates

Great Britain's gambling industry generated £17.5 billion in gross gambling yield (GGY) during the 2025/26 financial year, according to new figures published by the Gambling Commission.

The total represents a 4.4% increase from £16.7 billion in 2024/25 and marks the fifth consecutive year of overall growth since the pandemic-affected 2020/21 financial year.

Online casino was the principal contributor to the increase, with revenue rising 14.8% to £5.7 billion. By contrast, both online and retail betting recorded declines in GGY.

The figures were published alongside updated findings from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB), which showed that overall gambling participation remained broadly stable.

Online Casino Drives Industry Revenue Growth

Excluding the National Lottery and society lotteries, gambling GGY reached £13.2 billion in 2025/26, representing year-on-year growth of 4.7%.

The National Lottery contributed £3.47 billion, accounting for approximately one-fifth of total industry GGY.

Combined remote casino, betting and bingo revenue increased by 6.9% to £8.3 billion, representing approximately 63% of gambling GGY excluding lotteries. Land-based gambling revenue rose by a more modest 1.1% to £4.86 billion.

Online casino recorded the strongest growth among the major sectors, generating £5.7 billion in GGY, an increase of 14.8%.

Slots accounted for £4.79 billion of that total, up 15.5% year on year. The vertical represented approximately 84% of online casino revenue.

The sector added £735.8 million in annual GGY, exceeding the £728.1 million net increase recorded across the gambling industry as a whole. This indicates that growth in online casino offset revenue declines elsewhere in the market.

Online betting GGY fell 6.6% to £2.45 billion, while retail betting revenue declined 3.3% to £2.42 billion.

Football remained the largest online betting category, generating £1.17 billion, followed by horseracing at £769 million.

However, online betting turnover increased by approximately 4.5%, demonstrating that the decline in GGY did not correspond to an equivalent reduction in the total value of stakes.

Online bingo also experienced a contraction, with GGY falling 13.8% to £148 million.

Betting Shop Numbers Fall As Arcades And Bingo Grow

The Gambling Commission's latest figures also reveal further changes across Britain's land-based gambling sector.

The total number of licensed gambling premises declined by 2% to 8,080, while betting shop numbers fell 3.6% to 5,617.

This represented a net reduction of 208 betting shops during the financial year, with further changes to retail estates subsequently announced by operators including Betfred, William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral and Paddy Power.

Retail betting remained the largest component of land-based gambling by revenue, although other sectors recorded growth.

Casino GGY increased 0.4% to £934 million, while arcades generated £800.1 million, representing a 10.7% rise.

Land-based bingo revenue climbed 8.2% to £703.8 million, contrasting with the decline recorded in online bingo.

Gaming machines across land-based gambling generated approximately £2.7 billion, an increase of 4.3%. These revenues are already included within the relevant sector totals and should not be added separately.

As of 31 March 2026, the Gambling Commission recorded 2,154 licensed gambling operators, down 1.1%, holding licences covering 3,097 gambling activities.

Gambling Participation Remains Stable At 49%

Alongside the industry revenue figures, the Gambling Commission published updated data from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain.

The research found that 49% of adults had participated in gambling during the previous four weeks, broadly consistent with earlier findings.

When respondents who had only participated in lottery draws were excluded, the participation rate fell to 28%.

Participation was higher among men at 53%, compared with 44% among women. Adults aged 45 to 64 recorded the highest overall participation rates, ranging from 56% to 59%.

However, excluding lottery-only participation changed the age profile, with adults aged 35 to 44 recording the highest rate at 35%.

After lottery draws, the most common gambling activities were scratchcards at 13%, betting at 10% and online instant-win games at 8%.

Betting participation showed a substantial difference between genders, with 16% of men reporting participation compared with 4% of women.

Online gambling participation stood at 39%, falling to 16% when lottery-only participants were excluded. In-person gambling participation reached 29%, or 18% excluding lottery-only players.

The two participation categories overlap because respondents may gamble both online and in person.

Commission Warns Against Simplistic Data Comparisons

The Gambling Commission has cautioned that changes in gambling revenue and participation cannot necessarily be attributed to individual factors without further analysis.

Ben Haden, the regulator's Director of Research and Policy, said:

“The market shifts that we see in industry data trends, and this year is no different, are complex and will be down to a mix of factors that need more than one source to unpick.”

The regulator has introduced a new Microsoft Power BI dashboard to improve access to its industry statistics and research findings.

It has also emphasised that the GSGB participation figures should not be interpreted as measures of problem gambling or gambling-related harm.

Additionally, methodological changes mean that GSGB results are not directly comparable with statistics published under previous gambling survey programmes.

The next quarterly GSGB release, covering April to July 2026, is scheduled for 3 December 2026.

The latest figures show an increasingly prominent role for online casino within Great Britain's gambling industry, alongside declining betting revenue, a contracting retail estate and broadly stable levels of overall gambling participation.