Complete Statistics On Gambling Industry in the UK

Robert Fox
Written by Robert Fox

Based on the Gambling Commission Data Collected Since 2009

Gambling in the UK has been an ever-changing sector, affected by a variety of factors such as new types of gambling machines, changes in the operators’ distribution of premises, world cups and tournaments, and during the last year the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before moving forward with the Gambling Commission statistics, it’s important to note that data figures up to March 2012 were given by local authorities and were oftentimes incomplete. From March 2013 to March 2015, figures were provided by operators in regulatory returns. Finally, from April 2015, figures are collected directly from regulatory returns. Thus, we recommend not to compare the data across the different data sources.

Gambling Statistics Report: 2015-2020

Gambling Industry Data

Gambling returns are required to be done either quarterly, in the case of remote, non-remote, and large betting license holders, and annually for everybody else. Even so, gambling operators chose their reporting periods, for a variety of reasons listed in the introduction, and therefore some numbers may be estimates. These estimates are adjusted for by using an apportioning system that values the reports by different weights based on how close they are to the gambling commissions reporting periods.

It’s also important to keep in mind for this report that march 2020 coincided with the beginning of COVID-19 and the associated measures to keep it in check. Therefore, figures may be skewed due to that.

Betting

As of March 2020, betting GGY was £2.4bn, a large decrease of £859.5m (-26.4%) from £3.3bn. This decrease was mostly divided between pool betting (£31.3m, -57.0%) and machines (£751.6m, -41.2%), with a smaller decrease of over-the-counter (£69.8m, -5.2%).

gambling statistics report betting 2015-2020

Bingo

Bingo saw a smaller GGY decrease of £38.4m (-5.7%) from £674.4m to £635.9m as of March 2020. This decrease was mostly driven by Bingo Games (£36.2m, -10.4%) and Machines by (£2.2m, -0.7%).

gambling statistics report bingo 2015-2020

Casino

Casino also saw a similar decrease of £42.8m (-4.0%) from £1.1bn to £1.0bn during April 2018 – March 2019 and April 2019 – March 2020. The decrease was due to casino games which decreased by £38.8m (-4.6%) and Machines, which decreased by £3.9m (-1.8%).

gambling statistics report casino 2015-2020

Arcades

Conversely, arcades saw a substantial increase of £38.7m (8.8%) from £438.5m to £477.3m during the period of April 2018 – March 2019 and April 2019 – March 2020. The increase was primarily driven by B3 (£30.1m, 13.0%) and C (£8.6m, 6.3%) category machines, with a smaller decrease in the D category of £0.2m (0.3%).

That being said, the increase was very slightly offset by a GGY decrease for B4 machines of £0.1m (-17.8%).

gambling statistics report arcades 2015-2020

Remote Gambling

Remote gambling was the largest combined sector by GGY, accounting for 39.9% of the overall market and seeing an increase of 8.1% to £5.7bn.

gambling statistics report betting remote-2015-2020
gambling statistics report bingo remote-2015-2020
gambling statistics report casino remote-2015-2020

Gambling Statistics Report: 2015-2019

Gambling Industry Data

Regulatory returns are done bi-annually. Even so, some figures may be estimated because operators chose a particular day of the year to send in their return to the gambling commission. This can vary widely for a variety of reasons, such as lining up their returns with their financial period.

Also important to keep in mind for this report specifically, is that new regulations for category B2 machines decreased the maximum stakes from £100 to £2 in April 2019. As such, only the first 6 months since that regulatory change are included in the report.

Betting

As of September 2019, betting GGY amounted to £2,811.7m, a £449.7m (-13.8%) decrease from £3,261.4m, which was due to a decrease in off-course gaming machines by (£361.2m, -19.8%), over the counter (£74.7m, -5.5%), and pool betting (£15.0m, -27.5%).

gambling statistics report betting 2015-2019

Bingo

Bingo also saw a small decrease of £4.4m (-0.6%) from £673.3m to £669.0m, with the decrease mostly due to a decline of bingo games (£5.3m, -1.5%), which was slightly offset by an increase of gaming machines (£1.0m, 0.3%).

gambling statistics report bingo 2015-2019

Casino

As of September 2019, Casino GGY saw a decrease of £6.1m (-0.6%) from £1,058.8m to £1,052.7m. This decline was due to a decline in casino games of £9.5m, (-1.1%), but which was offset by an increase in gaming machines by £3.4m (1.6%).

gambling statistics report casino 2015-2019

Arcades

As of September 2019, arcades GGY saw an increase of £25.8m (5.9%) from £435.9m to £461.7m. Increases were divided between B3 (£16.9m, 7.4%), C (£5.0m, 3.7%), and D (£4.0m, 5.7%) machines. Conversely, there was a decrease in B4 machines GGY of £0.1m (-8.1%).

Remote Gambling

Remote gambling was again by far the largest combined sector in the industry, accounting for £5.5bn GGY (38.6%) of the overall £14.3bn market, which saw an increase of £229.3m (4.3%).

More specifically, online casino is the largest sector in remote gambling with £3.2bn in GGY, mostly from slot games.

Remote betting GGY on the other hand was £2.1bn and was led by both football and horses.

gambling statistics report casino remote 2015-2019
gambling statistics report betting remote 2015-2019
gambling statistics report bingo remote 2015-2019

Gambling Statistics Report: 2014-2017

Gambling Industry Data

Due to the gambling commission introducing new rules regulating any operator dealing in GB or with GB citizens, any data before November 2014 could no longer be used to compare to data post-November 2014. To that end, remote data for point-of-consumption covers only April 2014 to March 2015.

It is also important to note that since operators chose their reporting periods, some data may be estimated and adjusted for by the gambling commission.

Betting

As of 31 March 2017, off-course betting dominated the total figures for non-remote betting at 95% share, with pool (4%) and on-course (1%) betting taking a tinier portion. There were 235 operators by the end of the report, which was a decrease of roughly 10% from the previous year of 31 March 2016.

The total GGY for non-remote betting was £3.35bn from April 2016 to March 2017, constituting 24% of the industry as a whole.

Betting (non-remote) GGY shar
Betting (non-remote) GGY share(£m)

In terms of off-course betting, there were 8,502 premises as of 30 September 2017, a decrease of 3.9%.

Overall, the off-betting sector is dominated by four operators who account for 87.2% of the market: WilliamHill, Ladbrokes, Betfred, and GalaCoral.

Organisation As at 31 Mar 2016 As at 31 Mar 2017 As at 30 Sep 2017 % of total betting shops
William Hill 2,326 2,379 2,372 27.9%
Ladbrokes 2,149 1,945 1,736 20.4%
Betfred 1,366 1,637 1,671 19.7%
Gala Coral 1,835 1,680 1,634 19.2%
Other operators 1,238 1,203 1,089 12.8%
Total 8,914 8,844 8,502 100%

Number of betting shops by operator

GGY for off-course betting was nearly evenly split between over-the-counter betting at £1.39bn (43.5%) and machines in betting premises, at £1.8bn (56.5%).

Off-course betting GGY breakdown(£m)
Off-course betting GGY breakdown(£m)

On-course betting GGY was £25.29m this year, a decrease of 5.8%, and was dominated by horses who accounted for £20.79m, a decrease of 3.8%. ‘Other’ also declined by roughly 24.4%.

On-course betting GGY(£m)
On-course betting GGY(£m

Finally, pool betting GGY was £139.75m, which was a 10.2% increase from the previous period. Horses also dominated pool betting, accounting for £120.40m of the total, followed by dogs, football, and other.

gambling statistics report pool betting 2014 2017
Pool betting GGY(£m)

Bingo

As of 31 March 2017 there were 191 Bingo operators, with 583 premises as of 30 September 2017. The sector had two dominant companies in the reporting period: Gala Leisure Limited and Mecca Bingo Limited.

gambling statistics report number of premises by operator 2014 2017
Number of premises by operator

GGY for remote bingo £368.82m from April 2016to March 2017, which was a 2.1% decrease. The sector was dominated by mechanized bingo at 64.4%, followed by mainstage bingo (34.3%) and prize bingo (1.3%).

gambling statistics report bingo ggy by game 2014 2017
Bingo GGY by game

Bingo GGY for both bingo games and machines was split nearly evenly between bingo games at £368.82m (53.7%) and machines at £317.97m (46.3%).

gambling statistics report bingo ggy revenue source yearly comparison 2014 2017
Bingo GGY (£m) revenue source yearly comparison

Casino

There were 146 casinos operating as of 30 September 2017, with the sector being mostly dominated by two companies that accounted for 71%: Rank Group and Genting UK.

Organization As at 31 Mar 2015 As at 31 Mar 2016 As at 30 Sept 2017
Rank Group 63 61 63
Genting UK 41 42 41
Caesars Entertainment 9 9 9
2005 Act Casinos 4 6 6
Other operators 31 27 27
Total 148 145 146

Number of operating casinos (2005 and 1968 Act casinos)

In terms of Casino GGY, American roulette contributed the largest share of 37.1%, followed by Punto Banco at 19.5%, and Blackjack at 18.9%.

gambling statistics report casino table games 2014 2017
Casino table games, GGY share

Casino and gaming machine combined GGY was £1,163.54m, with casino games accounting for £956.87m (82.2%) of the total, and gaming machines accounting for £206.67m (17.8%).

gambling statistics report casino ggy revenue source yearly comparison 2014 2017
Casino GGY (£m) revenue source yearly comparison

Arcades

Arcade sector GGY was £414.4m during April 2016 to March 2017, which was a 0.2% decrease from the previous period. As of 31 March 2017, there were a total of 468 AGC licenses and 155 FEC licenses held by 507 operators.

Commission Licensed activity As at 31 Mar 2015 As at 31 Mar 2016 As at 30 Sept 2017
Adult gaming centre (AGC) 1,548 1,550 1,476
Family entertainment centre (FEC)35 322 295 274
Total 1,870 1,845 1,750

Number of arcade premises

There was an average of 58,307 AGC machines during this period, and AGC machine GGY was £349.88m, a 1.6% increase.

Machine category Apr 2014-Mar 2015 Apr 2015-Mar 2016 Apr 2016-Mar 2017
B3 9,774 10,656 11,805
B4 135 118 81
C 27,686 29,576 32,296
D 14,663 14,773 14,125
Total 52,257 55,124 58,307

AGC machine numbers (average)

Machine category Apr 2014-Mar 2015 Apr 2015-Mar 2016 Apr 2016-Mar 2017
B3 155.76 175.13 193.06
B4 0.34 0.38 0.29
C 109.63 119.72 126.48
D 25.37 25.20 24.61
Aggregated categories36 26.30 23.89 5.44
Total 317.40 344.33 349.88

AGC machine GGY (£m)

As for FEC, the average machine quantity was 21,727 this period, which was a 10.5% decrease. FEC GGY was £64.52m, a decrease of 8.8%.

Machine category Apr 2014-Mar 2015 Apr 2015-Mar 2016 Apr 2016-Mar 2017
C 2,279 2,158 1,903
D 23,616 22,106 19,824
Total 25,895 24,264 21,727

FEC (licensed) machine numbers (average)

Machine category Apr 2014-Mar 2015 Apr 2015-Mar 2016 Apr 2016-Mar 2017
C 4.14 3.56 3.03
D 59.42 61.68 59.93
Aggregated categories37 6.26 5.54 1.55
Total 69.83 70.78 64.52

FEC (licensed) GGY (£m)

Remote Gambling

As of 31 March 2017, there were 788 remote gambling licensed activities, an increase of 4.6%.  Gambling software and remote licensed casinos accounted for the majority of 56.1%.

Licensed activity As at 31 Mar 2015 As at 31 Mar 2016 As at 31 Mar 2017
Betting Intermediary 18 16 17
Betting Intermediary – Trading Rooms Only 7 7 5
Bingo 50 58 54
Casino 179 184 187
Gambling Software15 217 241 255
General Betting Limited (telephone only) 24 23 22
General Betting Standard – Real Event 102 94 105
General Betting Standard – Virtual Event 39 43 49
Pool Betting 70 87 94
Totals 706 753 788

Remote gambling activities licensed by the Commission

Remote sector GGY totaled £4.68bn from April 2016 to March 2017 excluding remote national lottery and large sector lotteries. This was further split into £2.22bn of proprietary GGY (47.4%) and £2.47bn revenue share GGY(52.6%).

Proprietary GGY Revenue share GGY Total GGY
Betting 1,126.68 609.45 1,736.13
Betting Exchange 129.32 129.32
Bingo 57.39 104.96 162.36
Casino 871.45 1,748.67 2,620.13
Pool Betting 32.32 32.32
Totals 2,217.17 2,463.09 4,680.25

GGY from remote gambling activities for GB customers only (£m)

This total was mostly made up of remote casino (56.0%) and remote betting (37.1%), which collectively accounted for 93.1% of remote GGY.

gambling statistics report remote market share by total ggy 2014 2017
Remote market share by total GGY (for GB customers only)

In terms of remote casino GGY, slots accounted for £1.69bn (64.5%) and table games accounted for £414m (15.8%).

gambling statistics report remote casino gambling activities ggy share 2014 2017
Remote casino gambling activities GGY share (£m) (for GB customers only)

Finally, remote betting GGY was mostly dominated by football (31.2%) and horses (19.6%).

gambling statistics report remote betting activities ggy share 2014 2017
Remote betting activities GGY share (£m) (for GB customers only)

Gambling Statistics Report: 2013-2016

Gambling Industry Data

Much like the 2010-2015 gambling report, the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act came into effect on November 1st. Since all the post-November 1st data accounts for remote betting that affects GB or its citizens while the data before does not, these two data sets cannot be directly compared.

Betting

The number of off-course betting premises was 8,709 as of 30 September 2016, which is a decrease of 1.8% from the previous period. The majority of ownership was centered around 4 operators holding 87.7% of the market.

Organisation As at 31 Mar 2015 As at 31 Mar 2016 As at 30 Sep 2016 % of total betting shops
William Hill 2,308 2,326 2,329 26.7%
Ladbrokes 2,190 2,149 2,145 24.6%
Gala Coral 1,838 1,835 1,805 20.7%
Betfred 1,375 1,366 1,359 15.6%
Other operators 1,272 1,191 1,071 12.3%
Total 8,983 8,867 8,709 100%

Number of betting shops by operator

Over-the-counter betting accounted for 44.8% of off-course betting during April 2015 and March 2016, with the other 55.2% represented by machines on betting premises.

gambling statistics report off course betting ggy breakdown 2013 2016
Off-course betting GGY breakdown (£m)

In terms of on-course betting, horses dominated the GGY, although there was an overall decrease in both horses and betting, while there was an increase in ‘other’ betting.

gambling statistics report on course betting ggy 2013 2016
On-course betting GGY (£m)

Similarly, pool betting was also dominated by horses and saw an 11% decrease in GGY compared to the preceding period.

gambling statistics report pool betting ggy 2013 2016
Pool betting GGY (£m)

Bingo

As of 30 September 2016 there were 575 bingo premises operated by 199 companies, which is a 4.4% decrease from the previous period. The two biggest in the industry are Gala Leisure Limited and Mecca Bingo Limited, which accounted for 37.7% of premises.

gambling statistics report number of premises by operator 2013 2016
Number of premises by operator

In terms of total GGY, we saw £687.04m from April 2015 to March 2016, with mechanized bingo providing the largest percentage (65.4%), followed by mainstage (33.4%) and prize (1.2%).

gambling statistics report bingo ggy by game 2013 2016
Bingo GGY by game

Finally, Bingo games represented £376.64m (54.8%) of the total GGY, with machines representing the other £310.40m (45.2%).

gambling statistics report bingo ggy revenue source yearly comparison 2013 2016
Bingo GGY (£m) revenue source yearly comparison

Casino

As of 31 March 2016 there were 148 casinos dominated by two operators holding 71% of premises.

Organisation As at 31 Mar 2014 As at 31 Mar 2015 As at 31 Mar 2016
Rank Group 63 63 63
Genting UK 41 41 41
Caesars Entertainment 9 9 9
2005 Act Casinos 2 2 4
Other operators 32 33 31
Total 147 148 148

Number of operating casinos (2005 and 1968 Act casinos)

Casino games GGY was dominated by American roulette (43.4%), followed by blackjack (25.4%), and electronic gaming (19.7%).

Organisation Apr 2013-Mar 2014 Apr 2014-Mar 2015 Apr 2015-Mar 2016
3 Card Poker 230 235 240
American Roulette 872 840 856
Blackjack 603 591 603
Casino Stud Poker 6 12 7
Dice 16 12 13
Other 62 81 67
Punto Banco 162 156 157
Total 1,952 1,927 1,943

Industry table numbers (average)

gambling statistics report casino table games 2013 2016
Casino table games, GGY (£m) share

Gaming machines saw an increase of 7%, which accounted for a 1.8% increase in the total number of machines.

Casino game GGY was £195.39m, which constituted a 16% increase from the previous period. Casino games account for a large £802.69m (80.4%) of total GGY, with gaming machines making up the rest, £195.39m (19.6%).

gambling statistics report casino ggy revenue source yearly comparison 2013 2016
Casino GGY (£m) revenue source yearly comparison

Arcades

As of 30 September 2016, there were 483 AGCs and 158 FECs held together by 522 operators, although the number has declined steadily over the reporting period.

Commission licensed activity As at 31 Mar 2014 As at 31 Mar 2015 As at 31 Mar 2016
Adult gaming centre (AGC) 1,598 1,455 1,337
Family entertainment centre (FEC)35 331 293 258

Number of arcade premises

In terms of ACGs, machine numbers totaled 48,183, which was a 3.1% decrease from the last period. That being said, there was an overall GGY increase of £319.16m (2.3%).

Machine category Apr 2013-Mar 2014 Apr 2014-Mar 2015 Apr 2015-Mar 2016
B3 9,666 9,423 9,532
B4 62 87 54
C 28,133 26,683 26,715
D 15,564 13,514 11,882
Total 53,425 49,706 48,183

AGC machine numbers (average)

Machine category Apr 2013-Mar 2014 Apr 2014-Mar 2015 Apr 2015-Mar 2016
B3 144.55 154.21 165.10
B4 0.19 0.20 0.18
C 105.42 108,33 112.94
D 26.08 24.34 22.87
Aggregated categories36 35.59 24.82 18.08
Total 311.83 311.90 319.16

AGC machine GGY (£m)

On the other hand, FECs saw a £63.51m (6.5%) GGY decrease. The average total quantity for FEC machines was 20,562, which constitutes a 15.1% decrease from the previous reporting period.

Machine category Apr 2013-Mar 2014 Apr 2014-Mar 2015 Apr 2015-Mar 2016
C 2,002 2,140 1,788
D 27,115 22,175 18,864
Total 29,117 24,315 20,652

FEC (licensed) machine numbers (average)

Machine category Apr 2013-Mar 2014 Apr 2014-Mar 2015 Apr 2015-Mar 2016
C 3.44 3.90 3.11
D 56.31 57.95 55.70
Aggregated categories37 7.57 6.08 4.69
Total 67.32 67.93 63.51

FEC (licensed) GGY (£m)

Remote Gambling

Remote sector gambling account for £4,47bn of revenue during April 2015 to March

2016 (although that excludes National Lottery and large sector lottery numbers).

Proprietary GGY Revenue Share GGY Total GGY
Betting 1,053.19 513.63 1,566.83
Betting Exchange 151.86 151.86
Bingo 52.05 100.62 152.66
Casino 1,009.82 1,561.60 2,571.42
Pool Betting 25.86 25.86
Total 2,292.79 2,175.85 4,468.64

GGY from remote gambling activities (£m) for GB customers only

Remote casinos had the largest share in GGY of 57.5%, while remote betting had 35.1%, both accounting for 92.6% of overall remote GGY.

gambling statistics report remote market share by total ggy 2013 2016
Remote market share by total GGY

For remote casino GGY specifically, slots accounted for the largest share of £1,751.55m (68.1%), followed by table games £400.79m (15.6%), and card games £188.83m (7.3%).

gambling statistics report remote sector gambling activities ggy share 2013 2016
Remote sector gambling activities GGY share (£m) (for GB customers only)

As for remote betting, football had the lion’s share at 37% of total GGY. This was followed by horses (22%) and ‘other’ (9.9%), with unallocated revenue making up another 32.8%.

gambling statistics report remote betting activities ggy share 2013 2016
Remote betting activities GGY share (£m) (for GB customers only)

Gambling Statistics Report: 2010-2015

Gambling Industry Data

Much like other reports in this article, the data past March 2013 has a different source and is therefore considered a new point in a set of data for information. Where this report differs though, is that on November 1st, 2014 the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act came into effect. Ostensibly this act aims to regulate foreign businesses that do business in Britain or with British nationals.

Therefore, remote gambling numbers are broken up into pre-November 2014 numbers and post-November 2014 numbers, and should not be directly compared as they do not account for the same sources.

Betting

Off-course betting GGY saw a general decline of approximately 3% over the reporting period, with a slight bump in football betting in 2012-2013 due to the 2012 world cup.

gambling statistics report off course betting ggy 2010 2015
Off-course betting GGY (£m)

On-course betting GGY also saw a decrease, although much smaller than off-course, with horses accounting for the largest proportion of betting.

gambling statistics report on course betting ggy 2010 2015
On-course betting GGY (£m)

Pool betting on the other hand saw a large increase of approximately 6% from April 2010 to March 2015.

gambling statistics report pool betting ggy 2010 2015
Pool betting GGY (£m)

Bingo

As of 30 September 2015, there were 201 operators with non-remote bingo licenses, as the table below shows. Keep in mind that the figures shown in the table starting 2013 and onward regulatory returns from operators themselves.

Commission licensed activity at 31 Mar 2011 at 31 Mar 2012 at 31 Mar 2013 at 31 Mar 2014 at 31 Mar 2015
Gala Leisure Limited 267 143 137 135 135
Mecca Bingo Limited 103 97 98 97 91
Other operators 325 406 476 441 389
Total 695 646 711 673 615

Number of premises by operator

In terms of Bingo GGY, the overall figures have stayed roughly the same by March 2015, with a 3.5% rise in 2011/2012 and then a dip of 4% in 2013/2014.

gambling statistics report bingo games ggy 2010 2015

On the other hand, gaming machine GGY saw an overall increase of £77.51m over the reporting period. It should be noted that the increase in categories B3 and C was mostly due to operators instituting better systems for tracking GGY by category of machine.

Machine category Apr 2010-Mar 2011 Apr 2011-Mar 2012 Apr 2012-Mar 2013 Apr 2013-Mar 2014 Apr 2014-Mar 2015
B3 58.08 76.32 136.54 156.19 158.94
B4 1.73 1.35 1.13 0.75 0.62
C 71.61 81.00 129.01 110.84 107.69
D 5.02 8.10 20.60 19.70 17.24
Aggregated categories 87.74 98.47 5.23 7.27 17.19
Total 224.18 265.26 292.50 294.75 301.69

Gaming machine GGY (£m)

gambling statistics report bingo sector breakdown of ggy 2010 2015
Bingo sector breakdown of GGY (£m)

Casino

Of the 148 Casinos operational by 31 March 201, 104 were operated by two companies: Rank Group and Genting UK.

Organisation at 31 Mar 2011 at 31 Mar 2012 at 31 Mar 2013 at 31 Mar 2014 at 31 Mar 2015
Rank Group (Grosvenor and

‘G’ Casinos)

37 36 38  63 63
Genting UK (Genting Casinos) 46 44 42  41 41
Gala Coral Group (Gala Casinos) 28 27 25  0 0
London Clubs International 11 10 11  9 9
Other operators 27 28 27  32 33
2005 Act Casinos  – 1 1  2 2
Total 149 146 144  147 148

Number of operating casinos

Casino win GGY saw a steady increase until 2014, after which there was a steep decline to 4%, roughly half of where it was from the start of the reporting period.

gambling statistics report casino games ggy 2010 2015

As for casino gaming machines, the GGY rose year-after-year by 42% and accounted for 7% of gaming machine GGY.

Machine category Apr 2010-Mar 2011 Apr 2011-Mar 2012 Apr 2012-Mar 2013 Apr 2013-Mar 2014 April 2014-Mar 2015
B1 117.67 126.27 130.11 145.88 156.90
B2 1.26 2.50 5.71 9.56 11.72
B3 0.07 0.17 0.35 0.45 0.18
Aggregated categories 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Total 119.00 128.95 136.18 155.89 168.80

Gaming machine GGY (£m)

gambling statistics report combined ggy 2010 2015

Arcades

Over the 5 year reporting period, the number of AGC machines has declined by 16% and accounted for roughly 29.4% of the average number of regulated machines. Conversely, AGC GGY has increased slightly in all categories of machines.

Machine category Apr 2010-Mar 2011 Apr 2011-Mar 2012 Apr 2012-Mar 2013 Apr 2013-Mar 2014 Apr 2014-Mar 2015
B3 8,698 8,695 9,103 9,659 9,386
B4 198 61 43 62 101
C 30,989 27,390 25,999 28,013 26,214
D 18,611 18,454 17,622 15,338 13,330
Total 58,496 54,600 52,768 53,072 49,031

Average AGC machine numbers

Machine category Apr 2010-Mar 2011 Apr 2011-Mar 2012 Apr 2012-Mar 2013 Apr 2013-Mar 2014 Apr 2014-Mar 2015
B3 100.27 113.85 122.92 142.34 145.40
B4 0.47 0.32 0.29 0.19 0.23
C 86.02 86.02 95.28 103.48 101.95
D 24.77 20.76 26.66 24.73 22.46
Aggregated categories 104.34 81.45 43.54 39.55 33.60
Total 315.88 302.40 288.70 310.28 303.63

AGC machine GGY (£m)

Similarly, the average number of licensed FEC machines decreased overall, especially in the Apr 2014 – Mar 2015 period. As such, it’s no surprise that FEC GGY also decreased by £8m in the reporting period.

Machine category Apr 2010-Mar 2011 Apr 2011-Mar 2012 Apr 2012-Mar 2013 Apr 2013-Mar 2014 Apr 2014-Mar 2015
C 3,275 2,469 2,497 2,098 2,321
D 26,214 28,764 28,465 27,162 22,794
Total 29,489 31,233 30,962 29,260 25,115

Average licensed FEC machine numbers

Machine category Apr 2010-Mar 2011 Apr 2011-Mar 2012 Apr 2012-Mar 2013 Apr 2013-Mar 2014 Apr 2014-Mar 2015
C 6.38 5.80 4.56 3.40 3.51
D 61.12 66.31 55.70 56.06 57.26
Aggregated categories 8.62 6.55 8.95 7.71 7.25
Total 76.12 78.66 69.21 67.18 68.03

Licensed FEC GGY (£m)

Remote Gambling

As mentioned earlier, remote gambling has a different set of numbers that were collected differently post November 2014. To that end, figures were collated for both periods and presented separately.

Regulated under the Gambling Act 2005   Regulated under Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014.
Remote activity at 31 March 2012 at 31 March 2013 at 31 March 2014 at 31 March 2015 at 30 Sept 2015
Gambling Software 93 97 90 212 233
Casino 23 26 27 178 176
General Betting Standard – Real Event 56 50 43 103 95
Pool Betting 47 45 46 71 79
Bingo 10 10 9 49 52
General Betting Standard – Virtual Event 15 16 12 38 37
General Betting Limited (Telephone only) 37 29 22 24 24
Betting Intermediary 10 10 10 19 17
Betting Intermediary – Trading Rooms Only 14 12 10 7 6
Grand Total 305 295 269 701 719

Breakdown of remote gambling activities licensed by the Commission

Pre-November 2014 combined remote gambling GGY saw an overall increase of roughly 20%, with a spike of over 30% in the April 2012 to March 2013 period, with betting dominating the majority of the industry.

gambling statistics report combined remote ggy 2010 2015

Pre-November 2014 remote betting saw a large rise to over 20%, with football and other accounting for large portions of remote betting GGY.

gambling statistics report remote betting ggy 2010 2015

As for pre-November remote casino GGY, we saw a large increase of nearly 120% in the April 2012 – March 2013 period, before crashing down to nearly the same level as April 2010.

gambling statistics report remote casino ggy 2010 2015

In terms of post-November 2014 figures, since there’s no previous year with similarly used methodology, we cannot compare to previous figures. Even so, the numbers are great indicators of what areas of remote gambling are doing better. For example, football and horses dominated the remote gambling sector, and slots dominating the remote casino sector.

November 2014 to 31 March 2015
GGY Proprietary GGY Revenue Share GGY Total GGY
Cricket 4.79 4.79
Dogs 9.26 9.26
Financials 3.10 3.10
Football 168.44 168.44
Golf 3.63 3.63
Horses 127.86 127.86
Tennis 25.31 25.31
Other 37.35 37.35
Revenue share 154.91 154.91
Total 379.74 154.91 534.65

GGY from remote betting gambling activities (£m) for GB customers only.

November 2014 to 31 March 2015
  Proprietary GGY Revenue Share GGY Total GGY
Card games 20.52 47.18 67.70
Peer to Peer 30.50 6.17 36.67
Slots 253.93 278.60 532.54
Table games 46.45 93.88 140.34
Other 8.47 48.53 57.01
Total 359.88  474.37 834.25

GGY from remote casino gambling activities (£m) for GB customers only.

Gambling Statistics Report: 2010-2014

Gambling Industry Data

As mentioned previously, since returns dates are decided by the operators, certain figures provided in this report are estimates provided by the Gambling Commission. Specifically, the period between 1 October 2013 to 30 September 2014 will be the period with the most estimated figures.

Also important to note is that the reporting methodology was changed past 31 March 2013, with the new figures being based on operators’ most recent regulatory return. This means that new data past those dates are not comparable to the ones before it.

Betting

The industry for non-remote betting is composed of both on-course and off-course betting, and as of 31 March 2015, there are 299 operators, although the majority of the industry is dominated by four operators who account for 86% of the industry (as shown below). This number of operators was a decrease of 51 from the same period in the previous year.

Organisation at 31 Mar 2011 at 31 Mar 2012 at 31 Mar 2013 at 31 Mar 2014 at 31 Mar 2015
William Hill 2,350 2,320 2,345 2,382 2,309
Ladbrokes 2,097 2,131 2,227 2,271 2,205
Gala Coral Group 1,712 1,725 1,745 1,812 1,838
Betfred 840 1,345 1,369 1,383 1,381
Tote 514
Other operators 1,554 1,607 1,414 1,289 1,225
Total 9,067 9,128 9,100 9,137 8,958

When it comes to off-course betting, horses and dogs have declined by £424m (8%) and £131m (10%) respectively, while football saw an increase of £287m (28%).

gambling statistics report off course betting turnover 1 2010 2014
gambling statistics report off course betting turnover 2 2010 2014
Off-course betting turnover (£m)

GGY for off-course also followed a similar trend, with horses and dogs declining but football seeing an increase.

gambling statistics report off course betting ggy 1 2010 2014
gambling statistics report off course betting ggy 2 2010 2014
Off-course betting GGY (£m)

On-course betting also saw a decline, although a much shallower one, with an overall decline of £76m (23%) in the reporting period.

gambling statistics report on course betting turnover 1 2010 2014
gambling statistics report on course betting turnover 2 2010 2014
On-course betting turnover (£m)

Interestingly, while GGY saw a decrease overall, other betting saw an increase of £0.63m (28%)

gambling statistics report on course betting ggy 1 2010 2014
gambling statistics report on course betting ggy 2 2010 2014
On-course betting GGY (£m)

Finally, the turnover for pool betting saw an increase of £73m (15%) overall, with a substantial increase for horses of £80m (20%), although dogs did see a decline.

gambling statistics report pool betting turnover 1 2010 2014
gambling statistics report pool betting turnover 2 2010 2014
gambling statistics report pool betting turnover 3 2010 2014
Pool betting turnover (£m)

Similarly, GGY saw an overall increase of £17m (13%), with horses increasing by £26m (30%) but a decrease of football of £10m (24%).

gambling statistics report pool betting ggy 1 2010 2014
gambling statistics report pool betting ggy 2 2010 2014
gambling statistics report pool betting ggy 3 2010 2014
Pool betting GGY (£m)

Bingo

As of 31 March 2015 there were 209 bingo operators with a non-remote license.

Bingo turnover saw a general decline of £159m (12%) in the reporting period, with a main stage decline of £83m (12%), mechanized decline of £54m (10%), and prize decline of £22m (68%).

gambling statistics report bingo turnover 1 2010 2014
gambling statistics report bingo turnover 2 2010 2014
Bingo turnover £m (ticket sales)

Similarly, overall GGY saw a decline of £39m (10%) with main stage decline of £20m (15%), mechanised decline of £7m (3%), and prize declined £12m (71%).

gambling statistics report bingo ggy 1 2010 2014
gambling statistics report bingo ggy 2 2010 2014
gambling statistics report bingo ggy 3 2010 2014
Bingo GGY £m (participation fees)

Finally, with the introduction of electronic bingo terminals, the makeup of the machines has changed dramatically in the reporting period, with the majority of machines operating at category C.

Machine category Apr 2010-Mar 2011 Apr 2011-Mar 2012 Apr 2012-Mar 2013 Apr 2013-Mar 2014 Oct 2013-Sep 2014
B3 3,788 4,643 6,446 7,498 7,767
B4 240 195 183 148 131
C 14,840 16,413 21,183 31,527 40,190
D 5,022 17,804 19,411 11,217 4,418
Total 23,890 39,054 47,223 50,390 52,506

In terms of GGY, bingo saw a decline of 10% from £401m to £362m while gaming machines saw an increase of 33% from £224m to £297m.

gambling statistics report bingo sector breakdown of ggy 2010 2014
Bingo sector breakdown of GGY (£m)

Casino

Overall industry numbers have decreased by 0.5% in the reporting period, with casino stud poker suffering a decrease year-on-year to the point where it no longer features in many casinos.

gambling statistics report average industry table numbers 1 2010 2014
gambling statistics report average industry table numbers 2 2010 2014
gambling statistics report average industry table numbers 3 2010 2014
gambling statistics report average industry table numbers 4 2010 2014
Average industry table numbers

In terms of drop and win, overall casino drop has increased by £2.26bn (46%) since the April 2010–March 2011 period, with punto banco drop increased by a massive £1.49bn (240%). Wins also saw an increase of £309.6m in the period, with punto banco wins increasing by £161.5m (273%).

gambling statistics report casino drop 2010 2014
Casino drop (£m)
gambling statistics report casino win 2010 2014
Casino win (£m)

Finally, gaming machine numbers have increased across the board by 11%, with category B machines being in the majority.

Machine category Apr 2010-Mar 2011 Apr 2011-Mar 2012 Apr 2012-Mar 2013 Apr 2013-Mar 2014 Oct 2013-Sep 2014
B1 2,603 2,788 2,675 2,676 2,729
B2 30 56 111 175 185
B3 4 11 9 14 11
Total 2,637 2,855 2,795 2,866 2,925

Average gaming machine numbers

Arcades

ACG gaming machine numbers have declined year on year within the reporting period, with a drop from 39.59% in April 2010-March 2011 to 30.11% in October 2013–September 2014. As for the GGY of ACG machines, we’ve seen a decrease from 15% to 12% across all sectors.

Machine category Apr 2010-Mar 2011 Apr 2011-Mar 2012 Apr 2012-Mar 2013 Apr 2013-Mar 2014 Oct 2013-Sep 2014
B3 8,698 8,695 9,084 9,561 9,379
B4 198 61 43 62 91
C 30,989 27,390 25,938 27,819 27,129
D 18,611 18,454 17,508 14,978 13,930
Total 58,496 54,600 52,573 52,419 50,530

Average AGC machine numbers

Machine category Apr 2010-Mar 2011 Apr 2011-Mar 2012 Apr 2012-Mar 2013 Apr 2013-Mar 2014 Oct 2013-Sep 2014
B3 100.27 113.78 122.05 138.46 140.61
B4 0.47 0.32 0.29 0.19 0.23
C 86.02 86.02 94.60 100.19 100.13
D 24.77 20.76 26.38 23.29 21.93
Aggregated categories 104.34 81.45 44.72 45.93 43.20
Total 315.88 302.40 288.05 308.07 306.09

AGC machine GGY (£m)

FECs also saw a  decrease from 19.96% in April 2010-March 2011 to 15.8% in October 2013–September 2014. Much like ACGs, the GGY of FEC decreased as well, from 4% in April 2010-March 2011 to 3% across all sectors.

Machine category Apr 2010-Mar 2011 Apr 2011-Mar 2012 Apr 2012-Mar 2013 Apr 2013-Mar 2014 Oct 2013-Sep 2014
C 3,275 2,469 2,458 2,059 2,031
D 26,214 28,764 28,379 27,118 24,484
Total 29,489 31,233 30,837 29,177 26,515

Average licensed FEC machine numbers

Machine category Apr 2010-Mar 2011 Apr 2011-Mar 2012 Apr 2012-Mar 2013 Apr 2013-Mar 2014 Oct 2013-Sep 2014
C 6.38 5.80 4.56 3.40 3.34
D 61.12 66.31 53.00 53.20 56.97
Aggregated categories19 8.62 6.55 11.31 10.14 6.73
Total 76.12 78.66 68.87 66.73 67.04

Licensed FEC GGY

Remote Gambling

Remote betting dominated the remote gambling sector during this reporting period, accounting for £31.5bn of the £32.5bn turnover in October 2013-September 2014, with an increase of almost £6.2bn (23%) in the April 2013-March 2014 period.

As for GGY, the overall numbers have increased year after year since April 2010-March 2011. There was a large decrease in GGY during April 2011-March 2012, which was mostly due to  Betfair moving its regulated activity off-shore.

gambling statistics report ggy from remote gambling activities 1 2010 2014
gambling statistics report ggy from remote gambling activities 2 2010 2014
gambling statistics report ggy from remote gambling activities 3 2010 2014
GGY from remote gambling activities £m (including betting exchanges)

During the October 2013-September 2014, remote betting was mostly dominated by football, ‘other’ (which refers to other types of gambling), and tennis.

gambling statistics report remote betting sector turnover breakdown 1 2010 2014
gambling statistics report remote betting sector turnover breakdown 2 2010 2014
gambling statistics report remote betting sector turnover breakdown 3 2010 2014
Remote betting sector turnover breakdown (£m)

Finally, turnover and GGY for remote casino has decreased by  £4.3m (1%) and £3.4m (12%) respectively.

gambling statistics report remote casino sector turnover breakdown 1 2010 2014
gambling statistics report remote casino sector turnover breakdown 2 2010 2014
Remote casino sector turnover breakdown (£m)
gambling statistics report remote casino sector ggy breakdown 2010 2014
Remote casino sector GGY breakdown (£m)

Gambling Statistics Report: 2009-2014

Gambling Industry Data

Returns in the gambling industry are done yearly (or sometimes quarterly depending on the sector), and the dates set for said returns are picked by the operators. That means that for the last year of the report (1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014), some figures are estimates made by the gambling commission. Said adjustments are weighted based on the time of the report given, and since the gambling commission must report on all returns, these adjustments are normal.

That being said, it’s important to be aware that the period between 1 April 2013 to 31 March 2014 has some estimated figures.

Betting

As of the 30th of September 2014, 86% of all betting shops were largely operated by four main companies: William Hill, Ladbrokes, Gala Coral Group, and Betfred. Another 1,200-1,600 betting shops were operated by other companies, although that number decreased from the higher end to the lower end as the years progressed.

Organisation at 31 Mar 2011 at 31 Mar 2012 at 31 Mar 2013 at 31 Mar 2014 at 30 Sept 2014
William Hill 2,350 2,320 2,345 2,382 2,394
Ladbrokes 2,097 2,131 2,227 2,271 2,266
Gala Coral Group 1,712 1,725 1,745 1,812 1,836
Betfred 840  1,345 1,369 1,383 1,381
Tote 514
Other operators 1,554 1,607 1,390 1,268 1,231
Total 9,067 9,128 9,076 9,116 9,108

In terms of off-course betting, we saw a general decline over the reporting years for both horses and dogs (£569m and £134m respectively), while Football and numbers managed steady increases.

gambling statistics report off course betting turnover 1 2009 2014
gambling statistics report off course betting turnover 2 2009 2014
Off-course betting turnover (£m)

On-course betting also saw a general decline of 22% in the reporting period. More specifically, dog and horse profits declined by 50% and 15%, although other betting has seen a small increase of £0.86m (48%).

gambling statistics report on course betting turnover 1 2009 2014
gambling statistics report on course betting turnover 2 2009 2014
On-course betting turnover (£m)

On the other hand, pool betting has seen a general increase of 13% in the reporting period, mostly made up of an increase in horse betting by 23%, which saw dogs, horses, and other betting decline slightly.

Bingo

As of 30 September 2014, there were 212 operators which held non-remote bingo licenses, with the table below showing two of the larger operators:

Organisation at 31 Mar 2011 at 31 Mar 2012 at 31 Mar 2013 at 31 Mar 2014 at 30 Sept 2014
Gala Leisure Limited 267 143 140 137 137
Mecca Bingo Limited 103 97 97 98 97
Other operators 325 406 441 435 419
Total 695 646 678 670 653

Overall, bingo turnover figures have decreased by 14% in the reporting period, with main stage bingo seeing a decline of £104m (15%), mechanized bingo a decline of £49m (9%), and prize bingo a decline of £37.3m (71%).

gambling statistics report bingo turnover 1 2009 2014
gambling statistics report bingo turnover 2 2009 2014
Bingo turnover £m (ticket sales)

As for GGY for bingo, we also see an 8% decrease in the reporting period: mechanized bingo saw an increase of £19.29m, while main stage saw a decline of  £30m, and prize bingo a decline of £21m.

gambling statistics report bingo ggy 1 2009 2014
gambling statistics report bingo ggy 2 2009 2014
gambling statistics report bingo ggy 3 2009 2014
Bingo GGY £m (participation fees)

Casino

Overall Casino attendance grew in the reporting period, with the biggest gain being inside London, going from 3.58 million to 6.47 million by March 2014.

  Apr 2009-Mar 2010 m Apr 2010-Mar 2011 m Apr 2011-Mar 2012 m Apr 2012-Mar 2013 m Apr 2013-Mar 2014 m
Scotland 1.70 1.84 1.88 1.72 1.65
North 4.85 4.87 5.06 5.46 5.44
Midlands & Wales 3.93 4.01 4.14 4.03 3.69
South 2.90 2.96 3.04 3.03 3.41
London high end 0.15 0.16 0.16 0.14 0.16
Other London 3.58 3.55 3.96 5.50 6.47
Total 17.11 17.39 18.24 19.88 20.82

Casino attendance by region

Generally speaking, industry table numbers have suffered a decline of 1% over the reporting period, with casino stud poker taking the biggest hit.

gambling statistics report average industry table numbers 1 2009 2014
gambling statistics report average industry table numbers 2 2009 2014
gambling statistics report average industry table numbers 3 2009 2014
gambling statistics report average industry table numbers 4 2009 2014
Average industry table numbers

Finally, overall casino drop has increased by £2.5bn (58%) with a little over half of this increase recorded by punto banco. Similarly, overall casino win has increased by £316m, with growth in all casino games except dice and ‘other’.

Arcades

In the reporting period, there was an overall decrease in both ACGs and FEC, with ACGs accounting for 30.46% of all gaming machines, and FEC accounting for 17.96%.

Machine category Apr 2009-Mar 2010 Apr 2010-Mar 2011 Apr 2011-Mar 2012 Apr 2012-Mar 2013 Apr 2013-Mar 2014
B3 9,399 8,698 8,673 8,918 9,206
B4 170 198 61 41 46
C 35,994 30,989 27,282 25,394 26,741
D 18,913 18,611 18,383 17,125 14,399
Total 64,476 58,496 54,398 51,479 50,392

Average AGC machine numbers

Machine category Apr 2009-Mar 2010 £m Apr 2010-Mar 2011 £m Apr 2011-Mar 2012 £m Apr 2012-Mar 2013 £m Apr 2013-Mar 2014 £m
C 5.62 6.38 5.78 4.36 3.21
D 57.49 61.12 66.11 55.41 63.18
Aggregated categories19 14.61 8.62 6.51 11.05 13.69
Total 77.72 76.12 78.40 70.82 80.08

Average licensed FEC machine numbers

Remote Gambling

Overall UK remote gambling GGY has seen an increase of £684m in the reporting period and accounts for roughly 6% of global remote GGY.

   Jan 2009-Dec 2009 £m Jan 2010-Dec 2010 £m Jan 2011-Dec 2011 £m Jan 2012-Dec 2012 £m Jan 2013-Dec 2013 £m
GGY 1,760 1,940 2,040 2,064 2,444

The UK consumer remote industry

When it comes to turnover, the sector is dominated by betting which accounts for £25.6bn of the £26.4bn, turnover in the period between April 2013-March 2014.

GGY figures have also increased year-on-year from the start of the reporting period, with betting again dominating and accounting for £980m of £1.1bn in the period of April 2013-March 2014.

gambling statistics report remote betting sector ggy breakdown 1 2009 2014
gambling statistics report remote betting sector ggy breakdown 2 2009 2014
Remote betting sector GGY breakdown (£m)
Author
Robert Fox
Robert Fox Content Strategist

Our creative core. Robert is in charge for creating the most appealing and informative blog posts for our users. He keeps abreast of the latest industry news and develops strategy for our website's content. Besides being great at writing Robert is a gambler himself.
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