The UK Gambling Commission has published its final Market Insights dataset, showing online gross gambling yield rose 7% year-on-year in the three months to March 2026. Online GGY reached £1.55 billion across the largest licensed operators, which represent about 70% of Britain’s online gambling market. The regulator is ending the quarterly series because the data now overlaps with other reporting.
Slots remained the main growth driver
Slots generated £772.9 million in GGY during the quarter, up 12% from the same period last year. The number of spins also rose 7% to 25.1 billion. The rise came while some player activity measures fell. Average monthly active accounts across online gambling fell 1% to 13.4 million, while slots GGY per session dropped from £4.01 to £3.82. Slots sessions lasting more than one hour also declined. The average session length fell to 15 minutes, compared with 17 minutes in the same quarter last year.
Betting showed little movement
Real event betting GGY edged up 1% to £600 million. Bet volumes fell 8%, and average monthly active accounts for real event betting were down 5%.
Other online gambling products were smaller by comparison. Online casino GGY reached £153.9 million, while poker generated £10.4 million. Virtual betting produced £9.2 million, esports betting reached £3.9 million and other activity added £1.2 million.
Retail betting moved lower
The land-based betting picture was weaker. Offline betting GGY fell 5% year-on-year to £527 million during the quarter, while total bets and spins slipped 1% to 3.1 billion.
Over-the-counter betting saw the biggest fall, with GGY down 18% to £125 million. Self-service betting terminal GGY was almost flat at £126 million, while machine GGY rose slightly to £276 million.
Market Insights series ends after six years
The Market Insights series started in 2020 to track gambling behaviour during and after the Covid-19 period. It later became a regular quarterly update for online and retail operator activity.
The Commission will now rely more on other data projects, including its regular operator data collection. That shift means future market monitoring will continue, but not through the same Market Insights format.
