UK market in numbers

February 7, 2025

The UK Gambling Commission has published further data on the gambling industry in Great Britain and covers online and in-person gambling covering Licensed Betting Operators (LBOs) found on Britain’s high streets.

The latest release includes data up till December 2024 and compares Q3 of financial year 2024 to 2025, with Q3 of 2023 to 2024, looking at how the market has changed in comparative periods over a year.

UK market in numbers

Growth in online gambling sector

The online gambling sector saw a marked increase in activity as reflected in the total Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) reaching £1.54 billion in Q3 of 2024, up 21% from the previous year. This growth is primarily driven by real event betting, which experienced a significant rise of 38% year-on-year, achieving a GGY of £647 million – the highest since Q2 of 2021. Interestingly, while the GGY increased, the number of bets in real event betting decreased by 7%, and average monthly active accounts fell by 3%.

Slots also demonstrated robust growth, with GGY increasing by 15% year-on-year to £709 million. The number of spins increased by 9% to reach 23.9 billion, while the average monthly active accounts for slots climbed 10% to 4.4 million. The segment also reported a rise in the number of online slots sessions lasting longer than an hour, growing by 6% to 107 million, correlating with an increase in average session length to 18 minutes.

In-person gambling trends

While the in-person gambling sector (LBOs) experienced a modest GGY growth of 5% to £592 million in Q3 2024, the total number of bets and spins decreased by 4% to 3.1 billion. This indicates a trend where revenue is growing despite fewer bets, suggesting higher stakes or more profitable betting structures.

Online safer gambling indicators and customer interactions

The UKGC Report data regarding online safer gambling measures seem to reflect an increased awareness and regulatory response within the industry. The total number of customer interactions rose by 23% to 3.5 million in Q3, with automated interactions predominating these engagements. There was also a 12% increase in direct interactions, suggesting that operators are putting more effort into addressing potential gambling harms, partly due to improved algorithms detecting risky behaviour starting from Q4 2023.

The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) recently launched a consultation on proposed new rules aimed at making gambling in Britain safer and fairer, as recommended by the White Paper of the Gambling Act Review.