The Gambling Commission regularly publish statistics and data on gambling activity and the data is freely available on their website here. Local version saved here.
The below data and graphs are taken from the latest information published in August 2023. Whilst the data includes gambling activity on a whole, including Self-service betting terminals (SSBTs), machines and online activity for all types of betting (Slots, Other gaming (including casino), Betting (Real event), Betting (Virtual), Poker we have detailed only activity related to betting shops/bookmakers that fall under Licenced Betting Operators (LBO) activity.
Number of bets placed by month – June 2020 to June 2023
Data from the biggest operators, covering approximately 85 percent of the retail betting market showing Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) across available products.
An average of just over 48 million bets per month have been placed for the 6 months to June 2023, this is down from around 48.5 million bets per month that were placed during the calendar year 2022. The impact on shop closures as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic can be clearly seen from the graph.
Value of bets placed by month – June 2020 to June 2023
Data from the biggest operators, covering approximately 85 percent of the retail betting market showing Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) across available products.
An average of just over £58 million was bet per month for the 6 months to June 2023, this is slightly up on calendar year 2022 where the average was £57.8m in bets per month, as with number of bets placed the impact on shop closures as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic can be clearly seen from the graph.
Included in the graph is data on over the counter bets placed in value, together with value of wagers on SSBT’s and Machines, showing the split on how bookies generate their business.
Number of betting shops by year 2009 – 2022
The number of bookmakers on the high street has been in decline since 2014 with a significant drop between 2020 and 2022 as a result of Covid-19.
At it’s peak there were 9,128 betting shops on the UK high street with the latest data for the reporting period March 2022 this had dropped to 68% of this value, down to 6,219.
| Reporting Period | Number of shops |
| 31/03/2009 | 8,872 |
| 31/03/2010 | 8,822 |
| 31/03/2011 | 9,067 |
| 31/03/2012 | 9,128 |
| 31/03/2013 | 9,100 |
| 31/03/2014 | 9,111 |
| 31/03/2015 | 8,995 |
| 31/03/2016 | 8,915 |
| 31/03/2017 | 8,800 |
| 31/03/2018 | 8,559 |
| 31/03/2019 | 8,304 |
| 31/03/2020 | 7,683 |
| 31/03/2021 | 6,462 |
| 31/03/2022 | 6,219 |
Bookmakers Turnover by Sport
Horse racing continues to be the most popular sport at high street betting shops accounting for over 50% of the bets placed by customers. Traditionally Dogs was second, however since 2014 football has taken over the second spot and is likely to break 25% of the turnover of betting shops when the next years data is published.
| Reporting Period | Total £m | Dogs £m | Football £m | Horses £m | Other £m |
| Apr 2008 – Mar 2009 | 9,044.14 | 1,580.5 | 941.73 | 5,743.51 | 778.4 |
| Apr 2009 – Mar 2010 | 8,423.69 | 1,405.15 | 954.98 | 5,442.78 | 620.78 |
| Apr 2010 – Mar 2011 | 8,107.09 | 1,364.31 | 1,031.13 | 5,153.82 | 557.83 |
| Apr 2011 – Mar 2012 | 8,424.19 | 1,345.43 | 1,014.88 | 5,300.9 | 762.98 |
| Apr 2012 – Mar 2013 | 8,208.32 | 1,323.54 | 1,160.57 | 5,084.2 | 640.01 |
| Apr 2013 – Mar 2014 | 7,957.63 | 1,273.4 | 1,167.8 | 4,894.01 | 622.42 |
| Apr 2014 – Mar 2015 | 7,836.54 | 1,223.57 | 1,323.74 | 4,804.36 | 484.87 |
| Apr 2015 – Mar 2016 | 7,888.68 | 1,220.89 | 1,299.06 | 4,804.77 | 563.96 |
| Apr 2016 – Mar 2017 | 7,726.61 | 1,152.19 | 1,385.23 | 4,537.89 | 651.3 |
| Apr 2017 – Mar 2018 | 7,330.69 | 1,044.13 | 1,274.28 | 4,391.5 | 620.78 |
| Apr 2018 – Mar 2019 | 7,482.47 | 941.54 | 1,801.31 | 4,187.57 | 552.05 |
| Apr 2019 – Mar 2020 | 6,685.45 | 1,006.59 | 1,240.63 | 3,987.24 | 450.99 |
| Apr 2020 – Mar 2021 | 2,868.92 | 369.35 | 636.54 | 1,609.55 | 253.48 |
| Apr 2021 – Mar 2022 | 5,597.74 | 739.85 | 1,343.41 | 3,003.01 | 511.47 |
| Reporting Period | Dogs | Football | Horses | Other |
| Apr 2008 – Mar 2009 | 17.48% | 10.41% | 63.51% | 8.61% |
| Apr 2009 – Mar 2010 | 16.68% | 11.34% | 64.61% | 7.37% |
| Apr 2010 – Mar 2011 | 16.83% | 12.72% | 63.57% | 6.88% |
| Apr 2011 – Mar 2012 | 15.97% | 12.05% | 62.92% | 9.06% |
| Apr 2012 – Mar 2013 | 16.12% | 14.14% | 61.94% | 7.80% |
| Apr 2013 – Mar 2014 | 16.00% | 14.68% | 61.50% | 7.82% |
| Apr 2014 – Mar 2015 | 15.61% | 16.89% | 61.31% | 6.19% |
| Apr 2015 – Mar 2016 | 15.48% | 16.47% | 60.91% | 7.15% |
| Apr 2016 – Mar 2017 | 14.91% | 17.93% | 58.73% | 8.43% |
| Apr 2017 – Mar 2018 | 14.24% | 17.38% | 59.91% | 8.47% |
| Apr 2018 – Mar 2019 | 12.58% | 24.07% | 55.97% | 7.38% |
| Apr 2019 – Mar 2020 | 15.06% | 18.56% | 59.64% | 6.75% |
| Apr 2020 – Mar 2021 | 12.87% | 22.19% | 56.10% | 8.84% |
| Apr 2021 – Mar 2022 | 13.22% | 24.00% | 53.65% | 9.14% |