UK gambling revenue hits £17.5bn as online casino surges
Great Britain’s regulated gambling industry generated £17.5 billion in gross gambling yield during the 2025/26 financial year as online casino continued to drive market growth.
New figures released by the UK Gambling Commission show total GGY increased 4.4% compared with the previous financial year.
Excluding lotteries, regulated gambling generated £13.2 billion, an increase of 4.7%.
The strongest growth came from online casinos in the UK.
Industry data show remote casino GGY increased by almost 15% to around £5.7 billion, with online slots generating approximately £4.79 billion and accounting for the overwhelming majority of online casino revenue.
Combined remote casino, betting and bingo generated around £8.3 billion during the financial year.
Online betting moved in the opposite direction, with GGY falling to approximately £2.45 billion.
Football remained the largest online betting category, generating around £1.17 billion, followed by horse racing at approximately £769 million.
The continued shift online is also visible in Britain’s retail gambling footprint.
The number of licensed gambling premises fell 2% to 8,081 during the financial year.
Gambling Commission Director of Research and Policy Ben Haden cautioned against attributing movements in individual categories to a single factor.
“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 said.
The figures reinforce Britain’s position as one of the world’s biggest regulated online gambling markets and show online casino increasingly driving growth while traditional retail gambling continues to contract.
The latest figures are a positive for the Gambling Commission after operators and some industry pundits criticised them for over regulating the industry and making consumers look twice at the illegal offshore industry, where odds and incentives can be more lucrative.
