The Gambling Commission has published its Annual Report for the April 2025 to March 2026 financial year, alongside the third wave of its Gambling Survey for Great Britain datasets.
The report confirms 2025/26 as a record year for the British gambling industry, with gross gambling yield rising 4.4% to £17.5 billion from £16.7 billion the prior year.
Excluding all reported lotteries, total gross gambling yield reached £13.2 billion, representing a 4.7% year-on-year increase across the sector.
The Remote Casino, Betting and Bingo sector recorded a total gross gambling yield of £8.3 billion, reflecting a 6.9% increase compared with the previous financial year.
Online casino gross gambling yield climbed 14.8% to £5.7 billion, helped by a 15% rise in slots gross gambling yield to £4.8 billion, offsetting a 6.6% drop in remote betting to £2.45 billion.
Land-based gross gambling yield also rose year-on-year, reaching £4.9 billion, with casinos generating £934 million and arcades recording £800.1 million, an increase of 10.7%.
Land-based bingo gross gambling yield rose 8.2% to £703.8 million, while gaming machines across land-based sectors generated approximately £2.7 billion, up 4.3% on the previous year.
Betting shop numbers declined by 3.6% to 5,617, a net reduction of 208 shops, with further closures expected as operators including Betfred, William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral and Paddy Power revise their retail estates.
As of 31 March 2026, the Commission recorded 2,154 gambling operators, down 1.1%, holding licences for 3,097 gambling activities, with a new Microsoft BI intelligence dashboard published to assist data analysis.
Ben Haden, Director of Research and Policy at the Gambling Commission, cautioned that “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.”
Haden also stated: “I welcome our capacity to publish industry data alongside the Gambling Survey for Great Britain to encourage and assist in the consideration of key questions from these different perspectives.”
The Gambling Survey for Great Britain dataset shows gambling participation remained stable, with 49% of adults reporting gambling in the previous four weeks, falling to 28% when lottery-only participants are excluded.
Participation was higher among men at 53% compared to 44% among women, and was highest among adults aged 45 to 64, ranging between 56% and 59% across that demographic.
Excluding lottery-only players shifted the age profile considerably younger, with adults aged 35 to 44 recording the highest participation rate at 35% across all categories tracked.
