Britain’s bookmakers still take billions in cash and card bets across the counter, but the mix has shifted sharply. These betting shop statistics use the Gambling Commission’s September 2026 release to show how much was staked on horses, football, dogs and numbers games in 2025-26, how much shops kept, and how the counter compares with online betting.
Counter betting at a glance
The Gambling Commission splits off-course betting in shops into two parts: over the counter betting on sports and numbers, and gaming machines. This article covers the first part only, which the Commission reports by sport in sheet 6a of its annual industry statistics.
In April 2025 to March 2026, customers staked £6,585.0m over the counter, down 2.3% on the revised £6,737.6m a year earlier. Gross gambling yield (GGY), the amount kept after paying out winnings, fell 6.3% to £1,171.2m.
That means shops kept around 17.8p of every £1 staked at the counter (our calculation). The wider picture of all sectors is set out in our UK gambling industry statistics.
| Sport, 2025-26 (P) | Turnover | Share | GGY | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horses | £2,897.5m | 44.0% | £456.2m | 39.0% |
| Football | £1,650.8m | 25.1% | £396.9m | 33.9% |
| Other events | £747.6m | 11.4% | £86.8m | 7.4% |
| Numbers | £695.7m | 10.6% | £119.2m | 10.2% |
| Dogs | £593.4m | 9.0% | £112.1m | 9.6% |
| Total | £6,585.0m | 100% | £1,171.2m | 100% |
Shares are our calculations from provisional Commission figures. Quarterly counter turnover was steady through the year, at £1,715.7m, £1,593.6m, £1,631.1m and £1,644.7m.
Horses: still the backbone of the shop
Horse racing remains the single biggest product in British betting shops. Counter stakes on horses were £2,897.5m in 2025-26, down 3.6% from £3,005.1m in 2024-25 (our calculation).
The long-run decline is steep. In 2008-09, the first year in the series, customers staked £5,743.5m on horses over the counter, so turnover has roughly halved, falling 49.6% (our calculation).
Horse racing betting shops keep a smaller margin on racing than on football: GGY of £456.2m on horses is about 15.7% of stakes (our calculation). Shop bets on racing also feed the horserace betting levy, which funds prize money and integrity work.
Racecourse bookmakers are counted separately. On-course turnover was £283.0m in 2025-26, of which £270.5m was on horses, and pool betting added another £123.7m.
Football: the growth story that has stalled
Football is the one major sport where shop stakes are higher than in 2008-09. Counter turnover on football rose from £941.7m that year to £1,650.8m in 2025-26, an increase of 75.3% (our calculation).
The peak, however, has passed. Football turnover reached £1,801.3m in 2018-19 and is now 8.4% lower, with a small 0.7% dip in the latest year (our calculations).
Football is also the most profitable counter product. Shops kept £396.9m, about 24.0% of stakes. GGY was down 8.6% on 2024-25’s £434.2m (our calculations).
Key point: Football accounts for a quarter of counter stakes but a third of counter GGY, the widest gap of any sport in the betting shop statistics.
For sport-by-sport figures across shops and online combined, see our UK sports betting statistics.
Dogs, numbers and other events
Greyhound betting has suffered the steepest decline of any counter product. Stakes on greyhounds fell to £593.4m in 2025-26, down 11.8% in a year and 62.5% below the £1,580.5m staked in 2008-09 (our calculations).
GGY from dogs was £112.1m, down from £304.0m in 2008-09.
Numbers betting, which covers bets on lottery draws and similar number games, was flat. Turnover was £695.7m against £695.4m a year earlier, while GGY slipped to £119.2m.
The “other” category, which includes events such as tennis, golf and novelty markets, was the only line to grow, rising 6.5% to £747.6m (our calculation). It returned the lowest margin of any counter product, at about 11.6%.
Shops vs online: who takes the bets now
Remote betting, which includes sports betting websites and apps licensed in Great Britain, took £24,965.6m in stakes in 2025-26 and £2,447.6m in GGY. Counter betting was therefore about 20.9% of combined shop and online betting turnover (our calculation).
| 2025-26 (P) | Counter turnover | Online turnover | Shop share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Football | £1,650.8m | £10,147.7m | 14.0% |
| Horses | £2,897.5m | £7,849.2m | 27.0% |
| Dogs | £593.4m | £583.6m | 50.4% |
Greyhounds stand out: shop customers still stake slightly more on dogs than online customers do. Football has moved decisively online, as shown in our breakdown of online betting by sport UK.
Online bookmakers kept a smaller share of stakes, about 9.8%, compared with 17.8% at the counter (our calculations). Bets placed with betting sites outside the GamStop scheme are not licensed in Great Britain and do not appear in either column.
What the counter figures leave out
Counter turnover excludes gaming machines, which now earn as much as the counter itself. Machines in betting shops generated £1,196.2m of GGY in 2025-26, about 49.4% of non-remote betting GGY, against 48.4% from the counter (our calculations).
There were 22,088 machines and 5,617 betting shops at the end of the year, so average counter turnover was about £1.17m per shop (our calculation). Shop numbers have fallen from 8,872 in March 2009.
The figures also exclude unlicensed activity. Neither offshore casinos nor unlicensed bookmakers report to the Commission, so their stakes are invisible in these returns.
Players comparing regulated shops with European online casinos should note that GB rules on age checks, self-exclusion and complaints apply only to Commission licensees.
Covid also distorts the series. Counter turnover fell from £7,671.1m in 2019-20 to £3,212.5m in 2020-21, a drop of 58.1%, when shops were closed for long periods (our calculation).
FAQ: betting shop turnover
Quick answers based on Gambling Commission industry statistics for 2025-26.
How much is bet over the counter in UK betting shops?
£6,585.0m in April 2025 to March 2026 in Great Britain, according to provisional Commission figures, down 2.3% on the previous year.
What do people bet on most in betting shops?
Horse racing, with 44.0% of counter stakes, followed by football with 25.1%.
How much do betting shops keep from counter bets?
Counter GGY was £1,171.2m in 2025-26, about 17.8% of stakes. Football has the highest margin at about 24.0%.
Is greyhound betting declining?
Yes. Counter stakes on dogs fell to £593.4m, down 62.5% since 2008-09, although shops still take slightly more dog bets than online operators.
Do these figures include betting shop machines?
No. Machines are reported separately and produced £1,196.2m of GGY in 2025-26.
All figures are Gambling Commission official statistics for Great Britain, financial years April to March. 2025-26 figures are provisional (P) and 2024-25 figures revised. Over the counter data come from sheet 6a, which excludes gaming machines (sheet 6d). Shares, margins and percentage changes are our calculations.
- Gambling Commission, Industry statistics, April 2025 to March 2026 (xlsx), sheets 3, 6, 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d and 10b.
- Gambling Commission, Industry statistics annual report: release page and notes, published September 2026.
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