Online growth pushes British gambling yield to £17.5bn

British gambling gross gambling yield (GGY) reached £17.5bn during the 2025-26 financial year. Online casino games and machines in adult gaming centres were among the principal sources of growth.

The Gambling Commission’s latest industry statistics show that total GGY increased by 4.4% between April 2025 and March 2026. Excluding lotteries, the regulated industry generated £13.2bn. This represented an annual growth of 4.7%.

Remote casino, betting and bingo remained the largest part of the non-lottery market. Combined GGY from these activities rose by 6.9% to £8.3bn. This accounted for approximately 63% of the total excluding lotteries.

Online casino games generated £5.7bn, including £4.8bn from slots. Remote betting contributed a further £2.4bn, led by £1.2bn from football and £769.3m from horse racing. Online bingo produced GGY of £147.8m.

Remote gambling accounted for almost two-thirds of British GGY when lottery activity was excluded.

Machine revenue rises as gambling premises decline

The figures reveal a more mixed picture for land-based gambling. Betting shops, casinos, bingo halls and adult gaming centres collectively generated £4.9bn, an increase of 1.1%.

However, the number of licensed gambling premises fell by 2% to 8,081 by the end of March. The betting-shop estate contracted for a twelfth consecutive reporting period, declining by 208 locations, or 3.6%, to 5,617.

Non-remote betting GGY fell by 3.3% to £2.4bn, while land-based casinos recorded a marginal 0.4% increase to £933.9m. Bingo premises performed more strongly, with GGY rising by 8.2% to £703.8m.

Machine activity provided another source of growth. Machines across licensed premises generated £2.7bn, 4.3% more than a year earlier.

Arcade machine GGY rose particularly sharply, increasing by 10.7% to £800.1m. Adult gaming centres accounted for £761.4m of that amount after recording annual growth of 11.3%.

At the end of the reporting period, 191,804 gaming machines were available across licensed premises.

Operator numbers continue to fall

The number of licensed gambling operators declined by 1.1% to 2,154, although the number of separately licensed activities rose slightly to 3,097.

National Lottery ticket sales also increased, reaching £7.9bn after growth of 0.9%. Contributions to good causes rose by 2.8%, while prize payouts declined by 0.6% to £4.5bn.

Large society lotteries recorded stronger sales growth of 5.7%, taking their combined ticket revenue to £1.2bn. Contributions to good causes reached £498.5m, up 2.8%.

The annual figures reinforce the industry’s continuing shift towards remote play while showing that gaming-machine activity is growing even as Britain’s wider network of gambling premises contracts.