Gambling Commission: Online Casino Drove GB Market Growth

Online casino supplied nearly all the growth in Britain's gambling market in the last financial year, Sarah Gardner, Acting Chief Executive of the Gambling Commission, said.

She gave the figures at the regulator's annual CEO Briefing on November 5, 2026, just days after the Budget confirmed Machine Games Duty would rise to 25%.

The Commission posted the speech as written on November 6, 2026. Gardner said the regulator does not give tax advice, but it does understand how taxation and regulation affect the products operators put in front of consumers.

She added that the Commission would keep listening to the industry and would field questions on anything inside its remit.

Where The Growth Came From

Gross gambling yield (GGY) across Great Britain rose 4.4% last financial year to £17.5 billion. Remote casino, betting and bingo climbed 6.9% year on year to £8.3 billion.

Online casino did most of the work inside that number: its GGY went up by £736 million, while the entire gambling sector rose by £728 million over the same period. Read together, those figures suggest the rest of the market was broadly flat in aggregate.

Participation held steady. The Gambling Survey for Great Britain recorded past-four-week participation at 47% for 2025, unchanged on the headline figure.

Gardner also flagged prize draws, which fall outside the Commission's remit: participation in 2025 was a little over 8%, close to online Instant Win Games for the National Lottery and society lotteries combined. She accepted that lotteries are feeling the competition.

A Mixed Picture On The High Street

Land-based gambling grew more slowly. GGY for land-based sectors was up 1.1% in 2025/26. Adult gaming centres rose 11% and non-remote bingo 8%, while casinos managed only negligible growth and non-remote betting declined.

Gardner said machine gaming GGY remains roughly £100 million below where it stood before the B2 machine stake cut, which came before the pandemic.

She also recognised broader cost pressures, from heating bills in betting shops and bingo halls to the Budget changes, and said the headline figures do not capture the full picture.

Her message to licensees: the Commission welcomes feedback, even where it disagrees with the industry, and no one should be afraid to raise concerns with the regulator.

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Illegal Market Data And Enforcement

The Commission published fresh research on the illegal market on the morning of the briefing, drawing on new questions added to the Gambling Survey for Great Britain.

In the year to April 2026, 1% of respondents said they had used illegal gambling websites in the previous 12 months.

Among people who gamble online, excluding the National Lottery, that figure was 4%. Gardner described it as 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 has intensified since the Government pledged £26 million to the Commission over three years in last year's Budget.

Gardner said the first £7 million landed a little over six months ago. She set last financial year against April to September this year:

Gardner said the emphasis of the Commission's interventions may shift away from some of these counts as its approach evolves.

What Comes Next

The Commission will publish an updated Business Plan for the remainder of the financial year shortly, with a new five-year Corporate Strategy to follow next year.

A minister-led taskforce on the illegal market has also been established, and Gardner said the Commission wants to go further.

For players, the practical advice has not changed: confirm a site holds a Gambling Commission licence before you deposit.