Gambling Industry Statistics Report on the Size and Shape of the Customer Facing Gambling Industry in Great Britain

BIRMINGHAM, U.K. (November 30, 2023) — This report provides an overview of Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) made by licensed gambling operators from GB gambling customers for each customer-facing sector, along with the numbers of licensed operators and premises. It is based on data reported to us by the operators we license and regulate. The accompanying data file includes figures for all sectors, based on data from April 2022 to March 2023, as well as historical data back to 2009.

Key facts

£15.1 billion – Total gross gambling yield (GGY) of the Great Britain gambling industry (April 2022 to March 2023) (6.8 percent (%) increase on April 2021 to March 2022 and a 6.6% increase on the last pre-lockdown period of April 2019 to March 2020)

£10.9 billion – Total gross gambling yield (GGY) of the gambling industry in Great Britain (excluding all reported lotteries) (April 2022 to March 2023) (9.3% increase on April 2021 to March 2022 and a 7.6% increase on the last pre-lockdown period of April 2019 to March 2020)

8,301 – Total number of premises in Great Britain (April 2022 to March 2023) (2.2% decrease on April 2021 to March 2022 and a 18.1% decrease on the last pre-lockdown period of April 2019 to March 2020)

5,995 – Total number of betting shops in Great Britain (April 2022 to March 2023) (3.9% decrease on April 2021 to March 2022 and a 22.0% decrease on the last pre-lockdown period of April 2019 to March 2020)

£6.5 billion – Total GGY for Remote Casino, Betting and Bingo Sector (2.8% increase on April 2021 to March 2022 and a 13.3% increase on the last pre-lockdown period of April 2019 to March 2020)

£4.5 billion – Total GGY for Land-based Sectors (Arcades, Betting, Bingo and Casino) (April 2022 to March 2023) (20.6% increase on April 2021 to March 2022 and a 0.2% increase on the last pre-lockdown period of April 2019 to March 2020)

£2.4 billion – Total GGY for gaming machines in Great Britain (April 2022 to March 2023) (23.0% increase on April 2021 to March 2022 and a 17.9% increase on the last pre-lockdown period of April 2019 to March 2020)

£1.7 billion – Primary Contributions (to good causes) from The National Lottery (April 2022 to March 2023) (0.4% decrease on April 2021 to March 2022 and a 3.0% increase on the last pre-lockdown period of April 2019 to March 2020)

£421.7 million – Contributions to good causes from large society lotteries (April 2022 to March 2023) (1.0% increase on April 2021 to March 2022 and a 14.6% increase on the last pre-lockdown period of April 2019 to March 2020)

2,343 – Gambling operators in the market (31st March 2023) (3.0% decrease on 31st March 2022 and a 9.2% decrease on the last pre-lockdown data at 31st March 2020)

3,229 – Gambling activities licensed (31st March 2023)
(3.2% decrease on 31st March 2022 and an 8.6% decrease on the last pre lockdown data at 31st March 2020)

Details

Remote Gambling

Remote Casino, Betting and Bingo (RCBB) accrued £6.5 billion gross gambling yield (GGY) which can be broken down into 3 individual areas.

Online casino games dominate the sector, generating £4.0 billion in GGY, £3.2 billion of which was from slots games.

GGY for remote betting totalled £2.3 billion, led by football (£1.1 billion) and horse betting (£733.5 million).

GGY for remote bingo totalled £173.6 million.

This reporting period saw an increase in the number of new account registrations with RCBB operators (up 10.6% to 36.4 million), in comparison to the latest pre-lockdown period, there is an increase by 21.8%. The number of active accounts went up 4.0% to 36.4 million and 21.0% from pre-lockdown. The total funds held in customer accounts was at £877.5 million at the end of the reporting period. This is a 3.6% decrease on the previous period end and a 26.7% increase on the last pre-lockdown period end.

Non-remote Gambling

Non-remote betting GGY was £2.5 billion, a 15.4% increase on the previous period and a 2.5% increase on the latest pre-lockdown period. Within off-course data, machines GGY increased by 15.9% to £1.2 billion during the last period which is also an increase of 15.2% from the latest pre-lockdown period. Machines represented 50.1% of total GGY in the non-remote betting sector. Total numbers of betting premises have continued to decline for the ninth consecutive reporting period to 5,995. That’s a decrease of 186 (2.2%) on the previous period and 1,386 (18.1%) on the pre-lockdown period).

The non-remote casino sector saw a £118.6 million increase of 17.2% in GGY to £810.4 million (casino games at £609.0 million & casino machines at £201.4 million) for this last reporting period. This is a decrease of £207.2 million (20.4%) in GGY from the last pre-lockdown period.

Non-remote bingo GGY was £591.8 million, a 34.0% increase on the previous period and of £15.5 million (2.7%) on the last pre-lockdown period. GGY is £227.1 million for bingo games and £364.7 million for bingo machines for this latest reporting period.

Non-remote arcades GGY was £572.2 million, a 38.9% increase on the previous period and of £141.2 million (32.8%) on the last pre-lockdown period. GGY is £533.3 million (up 40.8%) for adult gaming centres and £38.8 million (up 16.3%) for family entertainment centres for this latest reporting period. Note that this data does not include family entertainment centres which operate using a permit from a local authority.

Lotteries

The National Lottery ticket sales totalled £8.2 billion (increases of 1.1% on previous year and 3.5% on the last pre-lockdown period), of which £4.7 billion was returned as prizes (increases of 1.8% on previous year and 4.2% on the last pre-lockdown period) and the primary contribution to good causes totalled £1.7 billion (decrease of 0.4% on previous year and 3.0% increase on the last pre-lockdown period).

Large society lotteries ticket sales totalled £943.9 million (increases of 2.6% on previous year and 13.5% on the last pre-lockdown period), of which £261.5 million was returned as prizes (increases of 3.2% on previous year and 19.3% on the last pre-lockdown period) and the primary contribution to good causes totalled £421.7 million (increases of 1.0% on previous year and 14.6% on the last pre-lockdown period).