Slots continue to drive remote casino gross gambling yield (GGY) growth in 2026, representing 84% of the UK online casino market at just under £5bn.
The Gambling Commission (GC) has released its Industry Statistics 2026, stating that online casino GGY has gone up in the financial year from April 2025 to March 2026, supporting overall industry GGY of £17.5bn, a 4.4% increase year-on-year. Excluding lotteries, total GGY for the reporting period was £13.2bn, a 4.7% uptick.
Online casino GGY rose £736m YoY to £5.7bn (2025: £5bn), with a significant share of that coming from slots, followed by roulette at 6.9% and other at 4.5%.
Online casino GGY per vertical
- Slots: £4.8bn (2025: £4.1bn).
- Roulette: £395m (2025: £372m).
- Other: £255m (2025: £221m).
- Blackjack: £224m (2025: £188m).
- Poker peer-to-peer: £37m (2025: £36m).
Total GGY for remote casino, betting and bingo was up 6.9% YoY to £8.3bn. However, total GGY for the land-based sector (arcades, betting, bingo and casinos) only rose by 1.1% to £4.9bn. Total GGY from gaming machines was up 4.3% to £2.7bn (2025: £2.6bn).
Land-based casino operations increased by £3.6m GGY during the reporting period to £934m (2025: £930m). With a 74.4% share, casino games GGY stood at £695m (2025: £699m), while gaming machines came in at £239m (2025: £231m) with a 25.6% share.
The total number of licensed gambling premises in Great Britain was to 8,081 (2025: 8,240), with betting having the largest share with 5,617 (2025: 5,825), followed by adult gaming centres at 1,449 (2025: 1,417), and bingo at 714 (2025: 688).
The number of operators in the market for the reporting period was 2,154, down 1.1% YoY (2025: 2,179). Gambling activities licensed rose by 0.4% to 3,097.
GSGB data
The GC’s Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB) has also been published, providing participation data from a nationally representative sample of 5,277 adults aged 18 and over, who were surveyed during the period from 19 January to 26 May 2026.
In the past four weeks, 49% of respondents had participated in any gambling activity, but this figure drops to 28% when excluding lottery draw participation.
Online participation was 39%, dropping to 16% when excluding lottery draw-only players. In-person participation was 29%, falling to 18% when lottery draw-only players are removed.
Ben Haden, Director of Research and Policy, Gambling Commission, said: “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.
“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.”
‘For the chance to win big money’ and ‘because it’s fun’ were the most popular reasons people gave for gambling in the past 12 months. ‘Because it’s fun’ was the most common reason selected by adults aged 18 to 24.
Overall, 42% of people felt positive about the last time they spent money gambling, with an additional 3% feeling neutral.
The next quarterly publication, April to July 2026, will be released on 3 December 2026.
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