Online slots engagement is continuing to fuel the surge of the UK’s iGaming sector, according to the latest UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) figures.
The UKGC’s annual report revealed that the vertical accounted for over half of the country’s £7.8bn remote gaming gross gambling yield (GGY) during the 2024 financial year.
In total, online slots generated £4.2bn in GGY, up 16.7% from the £3.6bn recorded in the previous financial year. Blackjack, peer-to-peer poker, roulette and table games generated a further £800m to bring overall remote casino GGY to £5bn.
This slot surge outstripped the overall growth of the UK’s remote gambling sector at 13.1% year-over-year, as well as the UK’s total gambling industry, which experienced a 9.3% growth in GGY to £12.6bn during FY24, excluding lotteries.
Despite the remote gaming sector’s financial growth, the number of new accounts registered with remote operators was down 4.1% YoY to 34 million. The number of active accounts, classified as being used in the last three months, was 24.4 million during the last reporting quarter.
Funds held by gambling accounts during the last reporting quarter was £1bn, down 6.9% YoY.
AGC numbers down
A sector that has faced particular political scrutiny in the last 12 months is adult gaming centres, as the make-up and prosperity of the UK high street continues to form a sharp focus for the government.
Despite politicians such as Dawn Butler MP and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham raising the alarm regarding local communities being overwhelmed by “24-hour slot shops”, the actual number of these venues decreased by 36 in the last financial year to 1,415 compared to 1,451 at the end of the previous financial year.
This follows a growing trend of decline within the UK’s retail sector, as the overall number of retail premises decreased by 1.1% in the financial year. The number of betting shops decreased from 5,931 to 5,825.
Although the total number of AGCs decreased throughout the year, the number of machines housed within AGCs has increased. From July 2024 to March 2025, the number of machines has increased from 75,213 to 76,487.
Consequently, GGY derived from AGCs increased by 9.6% YoY to £683m during FY24.
Even though AGCs carry the largest number of gaming machines in the UK, GGY generated by these machines is dwarfed by the GGT generated by those housed in betting shops, highlighting the continued dominance of the latter among gambling venues on the UK high street.
For comparison, during the last reporting quarter of FY24, AGCs’ 76,487 machines generated £174m GGY, whereas the 22,868 machines in betting shops returned a GGY of £296.7m.
