Official statistics publications - February 2026
Today we have published two sets of official statistics relating to data collected during July to September 2025.
Posted 26 February 2026 by Helen Bryce
The first is our quarterly industry statistics, compiled from data submitted through regulatory returns for the period 1 July to 30 September 2025 and providing an overview of the customer-facing sectors of the gambling market. We introduced the quarterly publication of industry statistics last November. Previously we only published this data on an annual basis. Based on feedback we have also incorporated lotteries data into the quarterly publication.
Secondly, we have published the latest wave of data from the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB), Wave 3, 2025. This survey data was collected over a slightly longer time period than the financial quarter. Fieldwork for Wave 3 took place between July and October 2025. The publication focuses on participation in gambling activities, reasons for gambling and how people feel about gambling.
Publishing the official statistics on the same day means we can highlight the opportunity to look at the two datasets side by side and to assess their coherence and comparability with each other.
What are the advantages of comparing the data side by side?
Releasing industry statistics on a quarterly basis means we have greater ability to look at both the impact of trends, seasonality and events in gambling activity through the Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) generated across the sector, alongside any fluctuations we may see in reported participation.
In July to September 2025, the GGY for the customer facing gambling industry was £4.3 billion, representing a 6.6 percent increase compared to the same quarter in 2024. The trend driving this was the increase in GGY coming from the remote sector. Meanwhile, overall participation in gambling, that is the percentage of people who had gambled in the past 4 weeks, remained stable at 48 percent (Wave 3, July to October 2025) compared to the same wave in 2024.
Overlaying different datasets provides greater context about the size and shape of the gambling market in Great Britain. For example, remote casino and lotteries generated the most GGY1 in July to September 2025, but we know from GSGB that the player base for these activities is very different, both in terms of the numbers of people taking part in these activities and the demographic make-up of players.
As with all data triangulations, care needs to be taken to ensure like for like comparisons are being made. One example which highlights this is fruit and slot machines. The GGY generated from machines located in gambling premises across the country was £680 million in July to September 2025 but from a consumer perspective this is only one part of the picture. GSGB data estimates that around 1.9 million adults had played fruit and slot machines in the past 4 weeks, of which two fifths (44 percent) played them in bars, clubs and pubs – data which isn’t captured by our industry statistics. It’s important therefore to understand the ‘full picture’ when drawing conclusions.
This is the type of analysis that our team looks to undertake. We hope that by co-ordinating the publication of these important statistics we can highlight the nature of the opportunity, and the potential pitfalls for others to be aware of when using these data sources together.
Notes
1 GGY equivalent for lotteries (ticket sales minus prizes)