The Gambling Commission released its annual report for the financial year running April 2025 to March 2026. Total GGY across all channels rose 4.4% to £17.5bn. Excluding lotteries, the figure stood at £13.2bn, up 4.7%. Online drove the increase while the land-based sector posted modest growth.
Online gambling — casino, betting and bingo combined — generated £8.3bn, up 6.9% and accounting for 63% of all non-lottery GGY. Online casino delivered £5.7bn, with £4.8bn coming from slots. Online betting contributed £2.4bn, led by football at £1.2bn and horse racing at £769.3m. Bingo brought in £147.8m.
The land-based sector earned £4.9bn, up 1.1%, but the number of premises fell 2% to 8,081. Betting shops declined for the twelfth consecutive period, down 208 over the year to 5,617 locations, a drop of 3.6%. William Hill and Betfred closed hundreds of shops. Retail betting GGY fell 3.3% to £2.4bn, casinos rose 0.4% to £933.9m, and bingo climbed 8.2% to £703.8m.
Gaming machines in arcades recorded £800.1m in GGY, up 10.7%, mainly across adult gaming centres at £761.4m, up 11.3%. Gaming machines overall contributed £2.7bn, up 4.3%. At the end of the quarter, 191,804 machines were installed in licensed premises.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham proposed scrapping the 'aim to permit' rule for betting shops and round-the-clock arcades, which would require planning permission going forward. A tax increase on gaming machines is under consideration and may feature in the autumn budget.
The number of licensed operators fell 1.1% to 2,154. The number of activities rose 0.4% to 3,097. Participation remains stable: 49% of adults gambled in the past four weeks, or 28% excluding the National Lottery only.
