British gross gambling yield up 4.4 per cent, annual report shows
The Gambling Commission has published its annual report and the latest data from the Gambling Survey of Great Britain.
UK.- The Gambling Commission’s latest annual report sets out the headline statistics in what was a record year for the British gambling sector from April 2025 to March 2026. Gross gambling yield (GGY) climbed 4.4 per cent to £17.5bn, compared with £16.7bn in 2024/25.
It was the fifth consecutive year of growth since the pandemic-affected 2020/21 period, when GGY stood at £12.67bn (or £13.48bn adjusted for inflation). Excluding the National Lottery and society lotteries, GGY reached £13.2bn, representing year-on-year growth of 4.7 per cent. National Lottery revenues totalled £3.47bn, accounting for roughly 20 per cent of overall GGY.
Combined revenues from remote casino, betting and bingo products rose to £8.3bn, an increase of 6.9 per cent. The total represents around 63 per cent of GGY excluding lotteries. Meanwhile, land-based gambling revenue increased by 1.1 per cent to £4.86bn.
Online casino gaming continued to be the principal growth engine for the sector. GGY from online casino products rose 14.8 per cent to £5.7bn, with online slots generating £4.79bn, up 15.5 per cent and accounting for approximately 84 per cent of online casino revenue.
By contrast, online betting GGY declined by 6.6 per cent to £2.45bn, while retail betting revenue fell 3.3 per cent to £2.42bn. Football remained the largest online betting category with revenue of £1.17bn, followed by horseracing at £769m. Online bingo GGY fell 13.8 per cent to £148m.
Despite the fall in online betting revenue, underlying figures indicate that wagers increased by about 4.5 per cent, suggesting that lower GGY did not necessarily reflect reduced betting activity.
Land-based gambling continues to contract
The report also highlights the contraction in the land-based gambling sector. The number of licensed gambling premises fell by 2 per cent to 8,080. The number of betting shops decreased by 3.6 per cent to 5,617, a net reduction of 208 premises. This trend continues, with major operators, including Betfred and Flutter announcing closures since the end of the last financial year.
Retail betting remained the largest component of the land-based market. Casino revenues edged up 0.4 per cent to £934m, while arcades posted growth of 10.7 per cent to £800.1m. Land-based bingo revenue increased 8.2 per cent to £703.8m. Gaming machines across all land-based sectors generated £2.7bn, representing growth of 4.3 per cent (already included within the totals for individual sectors).
As of March 31, the Gambling Commission registered 2,154 gambling operators, down 1.1 per cent year-on-year. Together, these operators held licences covering 3,097 gambling activities.
New Gambling Survey of Great Britain data
The regulator has also published the latest wave of data from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB), corresponding to the period from January to May 2026. The new data suggests that overall gambling participation remained stable, with 49 per cent of adults reporting that they had gambled during the previous four weeks. When respondents who participated only in lottery draws were excluded, the figure dropped to 28 per cent, indicating that 21 per cent of adults had taken part solely in lottery games during that period.
Participation was higher among men, at 53 per cent, than among women, at 44 per cent. The highest rates were recorded among people aged 45 to 64, ranging between 56 per cent and 59 per cent. However, excluding lottery-only participants produced a younger profile, with adults aged 35 to 44 showing the highest participation rate at 35 per cent.
Following lottery draws, the most popular gambling activities were scratchcards at 13 per cent, betting at 10 per cent and online instant-win games at 8 per cent. Betting participation showed a notable divide between genders, with 16 per cent of men taking part compared with 4 per cent of women.
Online gambling participation stood at 39 per cent, or 16 per cent once lottery-only players were removed from the calculation, broadly unchanged from the same period a year earlier. In-person participation reached 29 per cent, falling to 18 per cent when lottery-only players were excluded. The Commission noted that individuals may use both online and retail channels, meaning the figures should not be combined.
