Gross gambling yield (GGY) across all online verticals in Britain for the three months to 30 September was £1.42 billion ($1.86 billion).

Data from the Gambling Commission on Wednesday reported GGY was up 8% from £1.32 billion in Q3 2024 but 5% behind £1.49 billion in Q2 of this year.

Total bets and spins for the quarter increased 3% year-on-year to 26.1 billion. However, the commission noted a 7% decline in the average monthly active accounts for the three-month period.

Online slots remain king although monthly actives drop

Breaking down the market, online slots remained the main source of GGY by some distance in Q3. Total GGY for the segment was £747 million, marginally ahead of the existing record – £745 million – in Q2 and 9% higher than last year.

Total spins were up 4% year-on-year, and on par with Q2’s record, at 24.4 billion. However, average monthly active accounts fell 0.4% from last year to 4.4 million per month.

Average session times were slightly shorter than the previous year at 16 minutes. The number of slot sessions over an hour dropped 15% to 8.6 million, although total sessions were 13% higher at 188.8 million for Q2.

Growth within the sector came despite the introduction of new measures for online slots in Britain. Refreshed online slot stake limits came in at the start of Q2, with players aged 25 or over now only able to wager a maximum of £5 per spin. Players below the age of 25 face a lower limit of £2 per spin.

Improvement in real event betting GGY

Elsewhere, the real event betting segment recovered from a year-on-year decline during Q2 to report growth. GGY for this sector increased 12% to £508 million, although this was 11% less than Q2.

The total number of real event bets was down 3% from last year, while the average monthly active accounts dropped 14%.

Meanwhile, other online gaming GGY, including table games, dipped 4% from Q2 of 2024 to £141 million. Internet poker GGY fell 15% to £11 million, while virtual betting GGY was down 17% to £8 million.

A further £4 million of GGY came from esports betting, a drop of 5%, although GGY from other activities climbed 35% to £2 million.

Betting shop GGY drops 5% in Q3

Turning to the land-based sector, betting premises GGY for the quarter was 5% lower at £508 million. Bets and spins in this segment were also down 2% year-on-year to 3.1 billion.

Machines again generated the most GGY at £272 million, although this was 3% less than the previous year. Over-the-counter GGY dropped 10% to £137 million, but self-service betting terminal GGY climbed 14% to £115 million.

Focusing on machines, sessions total dipped 1% to 22 million but the number of sessions that lasted more than an hour increased 4% to 575,063.