Gambling Commission: Online Casino Drove GB Growth
Online casino accounted for almost all of the growth in Britain's gambling market last financial year, according to Sarah Gardner, Acting Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission.
She set out the figures at the regulator's annual CEO Briefing on November 5, 2026, days after the Budget confirmed a rise in Machine Games Duty to 25%.
The Commission published the speech as drafted on November 6, 2026. Gardner said the regulator does not advise on taxation, but that it understands how tax and regulation shape the way operators provide products to consumers.
She added that the Commission would keep listening to the sector and would take questions on anything within its remit.
Where The Growth Came From
Gross gambling yield (GGY) in Great Britain grew 4.4% last financial year to £17.5 billion. Remote casino, betting and bingo grew 6.9% year on year to £8.3 billion.
Within that, online casino did the heavy lifting: its GGY rose by £736 million, against a £728 million rise for the whole gambling sector over the same period. On those two figures, the rest of the market was roughly flat in aggregate.
Participation was steady. The Gambling Survey for Great Britain put past-four-week participation at 47% for 2025, unchanged on the headline.
Gardner also pointed to prize draws, which the Commission does not regulate: participation in 2025 was just over 8%, similar to online Instant Win Games for the National Lottery and society lotteries combined. She acknowledged that lotteries are feeling that competition.
A Mixed Picture On The High Street
Land-based gambling grew more slowly. GGY for land-based sectors rose 1.1% in 2025/26. Adult gaming centres grew 11% and non-remote bingo 8%, while casinos saw negligible growth and non-remote betting fell.
Gardner said machine gaming GGY is still around £100 million below its level before the B2 machine stake cut, which pre-dates the pandemic.
She also acknowledged wider cost pressures, from heating bills in betting shops and bingo halls to the Budget changes, and said the headline numbers do not tell the whole story.
Her message to licensees was that the Commission is open to feedback, including where it disagrees with the industry, and that nobody should fear raising concerns with the regulator.
Casino Games Hub
Illegal Market Data And Enforcement
The Commission published new research on the illegal market on the morning of the briefing, using new questions in the Gambling Survey for Great Britain.
In the year to April 2026, 1% of respondents had used illegal gambling websites in the previous 12 months.
Among people who gamble online, excluding the National Lottery, the figure was 4%. Gardner called this a baseline to track over time. It follows the Commission's recent Open Banking analysis of illegal gambling payments.
Measure | Last financial year | April to September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
Cease and desist notices to advertisers and operators | 741 | 1,005 |
URLs reported to search engines | 397,527 | 7,824,932 |
URLs removed | 266,667 | 3,038,969 |
Websites referred to search engines | 1,068 | 2,201 |
Websites taken down or geo-blocked | 1,134 | 1,668 |
Enforcement activity has stepped up since the Government committed £26 million over three years to the Commission in last year's Budget.
Gardner said the first £7 million arrived just over six months ago. She compared last financial year with April to September this year:
Gardner said the focus of the Commission's interventions may move away from some of these counts as its approach develops.
What Comes Next
The Commission will publish an updated Business Plan for the rest of the financial year shortly, and a new five-year Corporate Strategy next year.
A minister-led taskforce on the illegal market has also been set up, and Gardner said the Commission wants to do more.
For players, the practical point is unchanged: check that a site holds a Gambling Commission licence before depositing.
