Britain’s gambling market grows to £17.46 billion in FY2026

Record online casino performance drives online gambling growth in Great Britain, while Gambling Commission’s latest survey shows stable gambling participation rates

Britain’s regulated gambling market has seen total gross gambling yield (GGY) increase by 4.4 per cent to £17.46 billion in the financial year ended 31 March 2026.

Excluding lotteries, total GGY was up by 4.7 per cent year-on-year at £13.2 billion, with GGY from the remote casino, betting and bingo (RCBB) sectors increasing by 6.9 per cent to £8.3 billion.

Online casino games dominated the sector, as GGY rose 14.8 per cent to £5.7 billion, of which £4.8 billion was from slots. Remote betting GGY fell by 6.6 per cent to £2.4 billion, led by football (£1.2 billion) and horse racing (£769.3 million), while remote bingo GGY declined by 13.7 per cent to £147.8 million.

The number of new account registrations with RCBB operators fell by 3 per cent year-on-year to 32.4 million, with 25.7 million active accounts at the end of Q4 FY26. Total funds held in customer accounts declined by 13.9 per cent to £886.8 million.

Land-based sectors’ GGY (including arcades, betting, bingo and casino) was 1.1 per cent higher at £4.9 billion in FY26.

Non-remote betting GGY fell by 3.3 per cent to £2.4 billion during the year. Within off-course data, machines GGY were 0.9 per cent lower at £1.2 billion, representing 49.4 per cent of total GGY in the non-remote betting sector.

The number of betting premises continued to decline for the 12th consecutive reporting period to 5,617, down 3.6 per cent year-on-year.

The non-remote casino sector’s GGY climbed 0.4 per cent to £933.9 million, comprising £695 million from casino games and £238.9 million from casino machines. Non-remote bingo GGY rose 8.2 per cent to £703.8 million, constituting £242.1 million from bingo games and £461.7 million from bingo machines.

Non-remote arcades GGY grew 10.7 per cent to £800.1 million, including £761.4 million from adult gaming centres (up 11.3 per cent) and £38.6 million from family entertainment centres (down 0.5 per cent).

National Lottery ticket sales rose 0.9 per cent to £7.9 billion in FY26, of which £4.5 billion was returned as prizes (down 0.6 per cent), while the contribution to Good Causes totalled £1.7 billion (up 2.8 per cent). National Lottery GGY increased by 2.8 per cent to £3.47 billion during the year.

Large society lotteries ticket sales increased by 5.7 per cent to £1.2 billion, of which £335.6 million was returned as prizes (up 6.1 per cent), and the contribution to Good Causes totalled £498.5 million (up 2.8 per cent). Lotteries GGY rose 5.5 per cent to £835.6 million

At the end of March 2026, there were a total of 8,018 licensed gambling premises across Great Britain, down 2 per cent on the prior year.

There were 2,154 licensed gambling operators in the market, a 1.1 per cent decrease on FY25, with 3,097 gambling activities licensed.

“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,” said Gambling Commission director of research and policy Ben Haden.

“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.”

In the final quarter of FY26, total GGY increased by 4.7 per cent to £4.37 billion, comprising £2.2 billion from remote betting and gaming activities, £1.2 billion from land-based sectors, and £1.02 billion from lotteries.

Gross Gambling Yield for Year Ended March 2026 (£ millions)

The Gambling Commission has also released the latest edition of the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB), conducted by the National Centre for Social Research amongst a nationally representative sample of 5,277 adults aged 18. The survey was conducted during the period 19 January to 26 May 2026.

Overall participation in any gambling activity in the past four weeks was 49 per cent, continuing to remain stable over time.

When excluding those who only took part in a lottery draw in the past four weeks, gambling participation falls to 28 per cent. This means approximately one fifth of adults in Great Britain (21 per cent) only took part in lottery draws (either National Lottery or other charity lottery draws) in the past four week period.

Overall gambling participation was higher among males than females (53 per cent and 44 per cent respectively), and was highest among those aged 45 to 64 (56 per cent to 59 per cent).

Excluding those who only participated in a lottery draw, the age profile shifts downward, showing that those aged 35 to 44 have the highest gambling participation rates in the past four weeks (35 per cent).

Overall, the most popular gambling activities after lottery draws are scratchcards (13 per cent), betting (10 per cent), and online instant win games (8 per cent). 

The online gambling participation rate in the past four weeks was 39 per cent, which falls to 16 per cent when lottery draw only players are removed – consistent with figures for the same time last year.

The most popular online gambling activities in the past four weeks were buying tickets for a National Lottery draw online (25 per cent), buying tickets for other charity lottery draws online (15 per cent), and online instant win games (8 per cent).

The in-person gambling participation rate was 29 per cent, which falls to 18 per cent when lottery draw only players are removed.

The most popular in-person gambling activities in the past four weeks were buying tickets for a National Lottery draw (15 per cent), buying a scratchcard (13 per cent) and buying tickets for another charity lottery draw in-person (6 per cent). Following lottery draws and scratchcards, the next most popular in-person activities were playing bingo at a venue, betting on sports and racing in person, and playing fruit and slots in person (all 3 per cent).