New UK Gambling Commission figures have reaffirmed the contrasting fortunes of the iGaming and retail gaming sectors.
Online slots experienced strong growth in the first quarter of the 2025/26 financial year, between April and June 2025, as gross gaming yield (GGY) rose 14% to £745m.
Alongside increasing GGY, the number of spins increased by 8% to 24.4 billion and average active account numbers stabilised at 4.4 million.
In contrast, the GGY of betting premises fell by 5% to £552m, with the total number of bets and spins dropping by 3% also.
Online growth
Overall, the UK’s online gaming industry generated GGY of £1.49bn, up 2% annually. This figure was fueled by a 6% increase in the number of total bets, an increase in spins to 26.1 billion and a 10% rise in active accounts to 12.7 million.
Despite the rise in online slot GGY, the number of online slot sessions lasting longer than an hour decreased by 9% year-on-year to 8.8 million. The average session length also decreased by one minute to 16minutes.
However, the UKGC noted that some operators refined their session length methodology during the quarter which may have impacted the data.
Real event betting GGY also decreased, falling 9% year-on-year to £570m. The number of bets and average monthly active accounts also decreased by 7% and 16% respectively.
Tax threat
Strengthening online gambling numbers come at a time when the UK Government is under pressure to increase taxes on the sector.
Among the most vocal voices in the debate is former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who has urged the government to hike gambling tax to aid efforts to eradicate child poverty.
Brown, who led the UK Government from 2007 until his resignation in 2011, has called for a 50% tax on online and retail slots, which estimates suggest could raise an additional £1.88bn in revenue for the government.
However, in response, some of the UK’s largest operators, including Entain, Flutter Entertainment and evoke, have warned against the disruption caused by such increases.
A 50% rate on slots would bring levels in line with that of the Netherlands, which Evoke’s CFO, Sean Wilkins, name-checked as a jurisdiction where tax hikes have had a detrimental impact.
He told investors evoke’s earnings call: “Increased tax beyond a certain point we know leads to black market growth, which leads to less tax take and zero player protection and is completely against the objectives of the Government. This is not speculation, this is evidenced in the Netherlands.”