Great Britain's Gambling Market Reaches £17.5bn as Online Casino Growth Continues
GB's gambling market hit £17.5bn in FY2025–26, up 4.4%, as online casino games generated £5.7bn — growth that outpaced the wider market.
Great Britain's gambling market generated £17.5 billion in Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) in the financial year from April 2025 to March 2026, the Gambling Commission said on 17 September 2026, as it published its latest annual industry statistics. Total GGY rose 4.4% year-on-year, with online casino games — the largest individual gambling category in the figures — generating £5.7 billion, up from £5.0 billion the year before.
The figures, drawn from regulatory returns submitted by licensed operators, cover Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales); Northern Ireland is not included, other than for the National Lottery. They mark the fourth consecutive year of growth in the market's overall GGY, though the pace of that growth has slowed compared with the previous reporting year.
Great Britain's Gambling Market Reaches £17.5 Billion
Total GGY across all sectors the Commission regulates reached £17.5 billion in FY2025–26, up 4.4% on FY2024–25's £16.8 billion. Excluding lottery products, GGY stood at £13.2 billion, up 4.7%.
GGY is the Commission's standard measure of gambling activity: broadly, it represents the amount operators retain from customers after winnings have been paid out, before operating costs, wages, taxes or other overheads are deducted. It is not a measure of operator profit, and it should not be read as a direct figure for individual consumer losses, since it aggregates results across millions of separate bets and gaming sessions.
Online Casino Games Generate £5.7 Billion
Within the Commission's figures, online casino games — the category covering online slots, roulette, blackjack and similar products — generated £5.7 billion in GGY, the largest single category disclosed in the report. Of that, £4.8 billion came from online slots specifically.
That £5.7 billion is up from £5.0 billion in FY2024–25. Based on the Commission's rounded published figures, that represents an increase of approximately 14.0%. This 14.0% figure is a Level.casino calculation using the Commission's rounded £5.0bn and £5.7bn figures, not a growth rate published directly by the regulator.
Online Casino Growth Outpaces the Broader Remote Market
Online casino games sit within the Commission's wider Remote Casino, Betting and Bingo (RCBB) category, which also includes remote betting (£2.4 billion, led by football at £1.2 billion and horse racing at £769.3 million) and remote bingo (£147.8 million). RCBB as a whole generated £8.3 billion, up 6.9% year-on-year.
The calculated growth rate for online casino games alone — approximately 14.0%, a Level.casino calculation based on rounded figures — is markedly higher than the 6.9% growth reported for RCBB overall. That is because the blended RCBB figure also includes remote betting and remote bingo, both of which grew more slowly, pulling the combined rate down.
Growth Has Slowed From the Previous Year
The market's growth this year was slower than the year before. In FY2024–25, total GGY grew 7.3% and RCBB grew 13.1%. In FY2025–26, those rates fell to 4.4% and 6.9% respectively.
The market is still expanding, and online casino games in particular grew faster than the market as a whole. But this is not an acceleration or a record rate of growth — it is a continuation of remote-led expansion at a slower pace than the previous financial year.
Online Casino's Increase Roughly Matches Total Market Growth
Total GGY rose from £16.8 billion to £17.5 billion, an increase of approximately £0.7 billion in absolute terms. Online casino games GGY rose from £5.0 billion to £5.7 billion — also an increase of approximately £0.7 billion.
On the Commission's rounded published figures, the roughly £700 million increase in online casino games GGY roughly matches the roughly £700 million increase in total gambling GGY. This is a Level.casino calculation based on rounded figures, not a statement from the Gambling Commission that online casino games are responsible for the entire increase in total market GGY. Because both figures are rounded to one decimal place, the comparison is approximate rather than an exact contribution analysis, and it should not be read as establishing causation.
Betting Shops Decline as Land-Based Gambling Still Grows
The number of licensed betting shops in Great Britain fell to 5,617, down 3.6% on the previous year — the 12th consecutive reporting period in which betting-shop numbers have declined, according to the Commission. Total licensed gambling premises across all sectors fell to 8,081, down 2.0%, and the number of licensed gambling operators fell to 2,154, down 1.1%.
Despite the decline in shop numbers, land-based gambling sectors as a whole did not shrink: combined GGY from arcades, betting, bingo and casino premises reached £4.9 billion, up 1.1% on the year. The picture within land-based gambling was mixed — non-remote betting GGY fell 3.3%, while non-remote casino GGY rose 0.4%, non-remote bingo rose 8.2% and non-remote arcades rose 10.7%. The Commission's figures show faster growth in remote gambling than in land-based gambling, but they do not establish that consumers moved from physical gambling premises to online gambling — no such causal link is made in the published statistics.
GGY Rises as New Registrations Decline
The Commission's figures also show a decline in some measures of consumer activity even as GGY rose. New account registrations for RCBB operators totalled 32.4 million, down 3.0% on the previous year. Active accounts stood at 25.7 million, and funds held in customer accounts totalled £886.6 million, down 13.9%.
Rising GGY does not, on its own, indicate that more people gambled, that more new accounts were opened, or that consumers deposited more money overall. The Commission's published statistics do not explain why GGY and these account-activity measures moved in different directions during the same period.
Gambling Reform Took Effect During the Reporting Year
The FY2025–26 reporting period coincided with several regulatory changes. A £5 per-spin stake limit for online slots for adults aged 25 and over came into force on 9 April 2025, followed by a £2 per-spin limit for 18–24-year-olds on 21 May 2025. A statutory gambling levy on operators, replacing the previous voluntary research, prevention and treatment contributions, took effect on 6 April 2025, with operators' first payments due on 1 October 2025.
Both changes applied for most or all of the reporting year covered by these statistics. The Gambling Commission's release does not attribute the market's growth or its slowdown to either the stake limits or the levy, and no such causal relationship is established in the published figures.
What the Figures Tell Us — and What They Don't
The Commission's FY2025–26 statistics do show: continued growth in total gambling GGY; online casino games as the largest individual GGY category, with growth outpacing the wider market; faster growth in remote gambling than in land-based gambling; a slower overall growth rate than the previous financial year; and a continued decline in the number of betting shops.
The figures do not establish: why GGY increased; whether more people gambled during the year; whether the same or fewer people gambled more per head; that consumers migrated from physical gambling venues to online platforms; that the new stake limits or the statutory levy caused any of the changes observed; or how any individual consumer's gambling activity or spending changed.
Commenting on the release, Ben Haden, Director of Research and Policy at the Gambling Commission, said the trends in the industry data are "complex and will be down to a mix of factors that need more than one source to unpick," adding that publishing the industry statistics alongside the Gambling Survey for Great Britain is intended to help in weighing "key questions from these different perspectives."
Conclusion
Great Britain's gambling market continued to expand in the financial year to March 2026, reaching £17.5 billion in total GGY, with online casino games — at £5.7 billion — representing the largest individual GGY category within the market. The rate of expansion, however, was slower than in the previous financial year, both across the market as a whole and within the remote sector specifically.
| Indicator | FY2025–26 | Annual change |
|---|---|---|
| Total gambling GGY | £17.5bn | +4.4% |
| RCBB GGY | £8.3bn | +6.9% |
| Online casino games GGY | £5.7bn | Calculated +14.0% |
| Land-based sectors GGY | £4.9bn | +1.1% |
| Licensed gambling premises | 8,081 | −2.0% |
| Betting shops | 5,617 | −3.6% |
| Licensed operators | 2,154 | −1.1% |
Note: Online casino games growth of approximately 14.0% is a Level.casino calculation based on the Commission's rounded £5.0bn and £5.7bn figures.
| Financial year | Total GGY growth | RCBB growth |
|---|---|---|
| 2024–25 | +7.3% | +13.1% |
| 2025–26 | +4.4% | +6.9% |
Sources: UK Gambling Commission, "Commission releases gambling industry statistics for 2025 to 2026," gamblingcommission.gov.uk, published 17 September 2026; UK Gambling Commission, "Industry Statistics – Annual report – Financial year April 2025 to March 2026 – Official statistics," gamblingcommission.gov.uk, published 17 September 2026; UK Gambling Commission official guidance on Gross Gambling Yield (GGY).
