UK gambling yield rises to £17.5bn as online casino and betting grows 6.9%

Britain’s licensed gambling industry took £17.5 billion in Gross Gambling Yield in the year to March 2026, according to the Gambling Commission’s annual industry statistics, published on 17 September. That is a 4.4% rise on the previous financial year.

Gross Gambling Yield is the amount operators keep after paying out winnings, so it is the closest measure there is of what customers actually lose. Excluding lotteries, the total was £13.2 billion, up 4.7%.

Online is where the growth is

The Commission groups online casino, betting and bingo together as the remote sector. It produced £8.3 billion, up 6.9% — the fastest growth in the report. Land-based gambling, covering arcades, betting shops, bingo halls and casinos, took £4.9 billion, up just 1.1%.

The high street continues to shrink. There were 8,081 licensed gambling premises in Great Britain at the end of the period, down 2%, and 5,617 betting shops, down 3.6%.

Why the numbers need context

Ben Haden, the Commission’s Director of Research and Policy, said the market shifts behind the figures were complex and would take more than one source of evidence to explain. The Commission published the statistics alongside its quarterly figures for January to March 2026 and new data from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain.

The figures come from the data licensed operators are required to report to the regulator, and the Commission notes that reporting periods were harmonised across all operators from July 2024.