The UK gambling market size has roughly doubled since the Gambling Commission began publishing its current industry series. Gross gambling yield (GGY) in Great Britain rose from £8,364.9m in 2008-09 to £17,455.7m in 2025-26, according to the Commission’s September 2026 release, but the path included a legal break in 2014, a pandemic and a wholesale shift online.
2008 to 2026 at a glance
The series starts in 2008-09, the first full financial year after the Gambling Act 2005 came fully into force. Total GGY, the money operators keep after paying out winnings, including The National Lottery, has grown in 13 of the 17 years since.
| Financial year | Total GGY | Annual change |
|---|---|---|
| 2008-09 | £8,364.9m | – |
| 2009-10 | £8,115.6m | -3.0% |
| 2013-14 | £9,868.6m | +1.7% |
| 2014-15 | £11,313.8m | +14.6% |
| 2015-16 | £13,456.1m | +18.9% |
| 2019-20 | £14,187.2m | -1.2% |
| 2020-21 | £12,669.6m | -10.7% |
| 2021-22 | £14,152.9m | +11.7% |
| 2024-25 (R) | £16,727.7m | +7.4% |
| 2025-26 (P) | £17,455.7m | +4.4% |
All figures are in cash terms, not adjusted for inflation, so part of the doubling reflects rising prices. For the latest year in detail, see our UK gambling industry statistics.
The only falls came in 2009-10, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21. Recent growth has been steady: the market was 23.0% larger in 2025-26 than in 2019-20, the last year before the pandemic (our calculation).
The number of businesses has moved the other way. The Commission counted 3,482 licensed operators at 31 March 2009 and 2,154 at 31 March 2026 (provisional), so a market twice as large is now served by fewer, bigger firms.
Between 2016-17 and 2018-19 total GGY was broadly flat, at £13,779.8m, £14,410.6m and £14,366.6m. Betting shop GGY then fell from £3,261.9m in 2018-19 to £2,415.5m in 2019-20, after the government decided to cut the maximum stake on fixed odds betting terminals from £100 to £2.
The 2014 break in the series
The biggest jump in gambling GGY history is partly a statistical one. The Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 required any operator selling remote gambling to British consumers to hold a Commission licence from 1 November 2014, wherever it was based.
Before that, the Commission’s remote figures covered only operators based in Great Britain. Sheet 12 of the release shows remote GGY on the old basis of £1,134.7m in 2013-14 and £753.5m for April to October 2014.
Once offshore-based operators came into the data, remote casino GGY jumped from £27.5m in 2013-14 to £915.4m in 2014-15 and £2,364.4m in 2015-16, the first full year. Total GGY rose 14.6% and then 18.9% (our calculations from sheet 1).
Key point: Comparisons of online gambling growth UK-wide across November 2014 overstate the real change, because much of the “growth” was existing activity entering the statistics.
The same logic applies today in reverse: offshore casinos without a GB licence are outside the series, so it measures the licensed market rather than all gambling.
The 2014 Act also changed what the series can see. Players using non-UK casino sites that never applied for a licence were not captured before November 2014 and are still not captured now, so the break widened coverage without making it complete.
COVID-19 lockdowns: a forced shift online
COVID-19 lockdowns produced the sharpest fall in the series. Total GGY dropped 10.7% to £12,669.6m in 2020-21, as betting shops, casinos, bingo halls and arcades were closed for long periods.
Land-based casino GGY fell from £1,017.6m to £116.6m and betting shop GGY from £2,415.5m to £1,035.5m. Online casino GGY rose from £3,232.1m to £4,014.1m.
Because venues were shut for so much of the year, online sectors produced 54.0% of all GGY in 2020-21, a share they did not reach again in the following years (our calculation). The land-based sectors combined earned just £1,660.4m that year.
Recovery was quick. By 2021-22 the market was back to £14,152.9m, and growth continued as venues reopened. Quarterly detail on the recovery is in our UK gambling quarterly statistics.
Online vs land-based
The long-term story is the rise of remote gambling. Online betting, bingo and casino produced £816.9m, or 9.8% of the total, in 2008-09 on the pre-2014 basis, against £8,294.8m, or 47.5%, in 2025-26 (our calculations).
Land-based gambling (arcades, betting shops, bingo halls and casinos) earned £4,882.9m in 2008-09 and £4,860.1m in 2025-26. In cash terms it has stood still, so its share fell from 58.4% to 27.8% (our calculations).
| Sector GGY | 2008-09 | 2025-26 (P) |
|---|---|---|
| Online casino | £33.1m | £5,699.4m |
| Online betting | £783.3m | £2,447.6m |
| Betting shops | £2,903.2m | £2,422.2m |
| Land-based casinos | £796.2m | £934.0m |
| Arcades | £480.4m | £800.1m |
| Bingo halls | £703.1m | £703.8m |
| Online bingo | £0.5m | £147.8m |
Online casino is now the largest single sector, with 32.7% of total GGY (our calculation), as our online casino statistics UK explain.
Bingo halls are almost exactly where they began in cash terms, though machines now earn most of their money, as shown in our bingo statistics UK.
The National Lottery and society lotteries
The National Lottery has grown more slowly than the rest of the market. Its GGY rose from £2,521.5m in 2008-09 to £3,465.2m in 2025-26, up 37.4%, but its share of the total fell from 30.1% to 19.9% (our calculations).
It peaked at £3,531.6m in 2020-21, when lockdowns closed most other venues. In April 2025 to March 2026, National Lottery sales were £7,934.9m and returns to good causes £1,688.7m.
Society lotteries grew much faster, from £143.7m to £835.6m of GGY, a rise of 481.6% (our calculation).
Taken together, The National Lottery and society lotteries accounted for 24.6% of GGY in 2025-26 (our calculation). That makes lotteries the smallest of the three broad blocks, behind online gambling and land-based venues, a reversal of the position in 2008-09 when the draw-based games were larger than all online gambling combined.
What the long series cannot show
The Gambling Act 2005 market is measured only through returns from licensed operators. Activity on European online casinos without a GB licence is invisible in the data, before and after 2014.
Likewise, spending at casinos outside GamStop that do not hold a Commission licence is excluded. The latest year is also provisional and may be revised.
Finally, the figures cover Great Britain, not Northern Ireland, which has its own gambling law, so the UK gambling market size is slightly understated by the GB total.
FAQ: the GB gambling market over time
Answers from the Gambling Commission’s industry statistics.
How big is the UK gambling market?
Total GGY in Great Britain was £17,455.7m in 2025-26, provisional figures show, up 4.4% on the year.
How much has the market grown since 2008?
By 108.7% in cash terms, from £8,364.9m in 2008-09.
Why did the market jump in 2014-15?
Mainly because the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 brought overseas-based online operators into the licensing system from November 2014.
What was the impact of COVID-19?
Total GGY fell 10.7% in 2020-21, with land-based sectors collapsing and online casino growing 24.2%.
Is online gambling bigger than land-based now?
Yes. Online sectors produced 47.5% of GGY in 2025-26, against 27.8% for land-based venues; lotteries made up the rest.
All figures are Gambling Commission official statistics for Great Britain, in cash terms and financial years April to March. 2025-26 is provisional (P) and 2024-25 revised (R). Remote figures before November 2014 cover only GB-based operators (sheet 12) and are not comparable with later years. Shares and percentage changes are our calculations.
- Gambling Commission, Industry statistics, April 2025 to March 2026 (xlsx), sheets 1, 11 and 12.
- UK Parliament, Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014.
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