Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) in Great Britain nearly doubled on 1 April 2026, rising from 21% to 40% of gross gambling profits. Entain has since cut 500 roles, and the Gambling Commission’s most recent quarterly data shows a market that was still growing when the tax landed.
The three quarters published so far for the 2025 to 2026 financial year cover April 2025 to December 2025, the period immediately before the increase took effect. They set the baseline against which the 2026 tax year will be measured.
Tax: Remote Gaming Duty at 40%, remote betting duty at 25% from 2027
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the package at the Autumn Budget on 26 November 2025. HM Treasury expects it to raise more than £1 billion a year.
“I will reform gambling taxes in response to the rise in online gambling. Remote gaming is associated with the highest levels of harm.”
The measures break down as follows:
- From April 2026, RGD rose from 21% to 40%, and Bingo Duty, previously charged at 10%, was abolished.
- From April 2027, a new General Betting Duty (GBD) rate of 25% applies to remote betting, up from 15%.
- Casino Gaming Duty bands are frozen until 2026 to 2027, with RPI uprating after that.
- Machine Games Duty rates are unchanged.
The 25% remote betting rate carries several carve-outs. Bets placed in licensed bookmaking premises stay at 15%, on the basis that retail betting carries higher overheads. Remote bets on horse racing also stay at 15%, because operators already pay a 10% statutory levy on horse racing bets. Off-course pool bets on horse and dog racing remain at 15%, as do all bets placed through self-service betting terminals. Financial and non-financial spread bets continue at 3% and 10% respectively.
The result is that an operator running both online and retail sportsbooks now faces two GBD rates, with a third layer of treatment for horse racing. HM Treasury’s April 2025 consultation on the tax treatment of remote gambling had set out an ambition to move to a single tax for UK-facing remote gambling. The Budget package moves in the opposite direction on that specific point.
The Gambling Commission receives an additional £26 million over three years to act against the illegal market, a direct acknowledgement that higher duty raises the commercial appeal of unlicensed operators.
Operators quantified the hit immediately. Entain estimated roughly £200 million a year. Flutter Entertainment expected an adjusted EBITDA impact of around $320 million in fiscal 2026 and $540 million in fiscal 2027 before mitigation.
Entain Estimates £200M Annual Tax Impact Following UK Gambling Duty Increases
“The Chancellor rightly wants to address harm, but these changes will hand a big win to illegal, unlicensed gambling operators who will become more competitive overnight. These black market operators don’t pay tax and don’t invest in safer gambling. At 40 percent, the UK’s remote gaming duty is now above countries such as the Netherlands, where a recent tax increase saw a rise in illegal gambling and a fall in Government receipts,” said Kevin Harrington, UKI CEO at Flutter.
Flutter Entertainment Faces $540M Impact from UK Tax Increases on iGaming and Sports Betting
Licence conditions and AML requirements tighten in parallel
A new version of the Licence Conditions and Codes of Practice (LCCP) took effect on 19 January 2026. The headline change amends Social Responsibility Code Provision 5.1.1, which governs rewards and bonuses. Operators must now cap wagering requirements attached to incentives and are barred from mixing products within a single offer, which ends the practice of tying a sportsbook bonus to casino play or the reverse.
Identity verification requirements also moved earlier in the customer journey. Verification is now required at account creation, removing the 72-hour grace period that earlier LCCP iterations allowed. For operators, that shifts verification cost from a post-registration process into the funnel itself and changes how conversion is measured.
Anti-money laundering
The direction on anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing is toward continuous monitoring rather than periodic review. Compliance advisers working with UK licensees describe several changes in supervisory expectation: money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessments treated as ongoing rather than annual static documents, source of funds checks triggered at multiple points across the customer lifecycle rather than at a single threshold, mandatory sanctions screening, and specific due diligence on open-loop payment instruments including prepaid digital vouchers and cryptocurrency deposits.
Customer due diligence at onboarding and enhanced due diligence for defined risk categories, including high-value depositors and accounts showing unusual transaction patterns, remain the baseline. The combined effect of the LCCP verification change and the AML expectations is that a UK-licensed operator carries more compliance cost per registration than it did 18 months ago, at the same time as duty on the resulting revenue has nearly doubled.
What the UKGC quarterly reports show
The Gambling Commission publishes industry statistics quarterly. Three releases cover the 2025 to 2026 financial year so far. The figures below are the Commission’s own key facts, reproduced as published.
| Metric | Q1 2025/26 (Apr to Jun 2025) | Q2 2025/26 (Jul to Sep 2025) | Q3 2025/26 (Oct to Dec 2025) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total GGY including all reported lotteries | Not published | £4.3 billion | £4.5 billion |
| Total GGY excluding all reported lotteries | £3.3 billion | £3.2 billion | £3.3 billion |
| Total premises | 8,219 | 8,254 | 8,148 |
| Betting shops | 5,789 | 5,782 | 5,669 |
| Remote Casino, Betting and Bingo (RCBB) GGY | £2.0 billion | £2.0 billion | £2.1 billion |
| Remote Casino GGY | £1.4 billion (67.2% of RCBB) | £1.4 billion (69.9% of RCBB) | £1.5 billion (70% of RCBB) |
| Land-based GGY (Arcades, Betting, Bingo, Casino) | £1.2 billion | £1.2 billion | £1.2 billion |
| Betting (non-remote) GGY | £622 million (50.6% of non-remote) | £592 million (48.2% of non-remote) | £613 million (48.2% of non-remote) |
| Machines in licensed premises | 188,559 | 190,965 | 191,325 |
| National Lottery contributions to good causes | Not published | £402.9 million | £415 million |
| Large society lottery contributions to good causes | Not published | £122.4 million | £126 million |
Three things stand out across the three quarters.
Remote casino keeps taking share of online. Its portion of RCBB GGY moved from 67.2% in Q1 to 69.9% in Q2 and 70% in Q3, and the absolute figure crossed from £1.4 billion to £1.5 billion in the October to December quarter. This is precisely the vertical the 40% RGD rate targets.
The retail estate is shrinking while machine numbers rise. Betting shops fell from 5,789 in Q1 to 5,669 in Q3, a net loss of 120 shops in six months. Total premises fell from 8,219 to 8,148. Over the same period, machines in licensed premises rose from 188,559 to 191,325. Fewer premises are carrying more machines. Land-based GGY held at £1.2 billion across all three quarters.
Non-remote betting is losing its majority of the land-based mix. It accounted for 50.6% of non-remote GGY in Q1 and 48.2% in both Q2 and Q3, even as the cash figure recovered from £592 million to £613 million in the Christmas quarter.
One presentational note matters for anyone building a time series from these releases. The Q1 key facts used the term “Non-remote Sectors” and did not publish a headline GGY figure including lotteries or the good causes contributions. Q2 and Q3 switched to “Land-based Sectors” and added both. The underlying categories are the same, but the published key facts are not directly comparable line for line across all three. Our earlier coverage of the Commission’s online GGY reporting sets out the longer trend.
How the Gambling Commission publishes its statistics
The Commission publishes its industry statistics on a quarterly cycle set to the UK financial year. Q1 covers April to June, Q2 July to September, Q3 October to December, and Q4 January to March. Each release carries a set of key facts followed by the full data tables, and the Commission publishes a forward schedule of release dates.
The lag between the end of a quarter and its publication runs to roughly five to six months. That gap is the reason the market is reading December 2025 data in August 2026, and it is why the first hard evidence of how the 40% RGD rate has affected remote casino GGY will not arrive until December.
The schedule, last updated on 11 August 2026, sets out the following:
- 17 September 2026: Industry Statistics Q4 (January to March 2026), plus the Industry Statistics Annual Report 2025 to 2026 and the Gambling Survey for Great Britain wave 1 (January to March 2026).
- 3 November 2026: National Lottery Distribution Fund (July to September 2026). 12 November 2026: Young People and Gambling Survey 2026.
- 3 December 2026: Industry Statistics Q1 2026/27 (April to June 2026), plus Gambling Survey for Great Britain wave 2.
- March 2027: Industry Statistics Q2 2026/27 (July to September 2026).
- May 2027: Industry Statistics Q3 2026/27 (October to December 2026).
- July 2027: Gambling Survey for Great Britain Annual Report 2026 and Licensing Authority Statistics 2026 to 2027.
The 17 September release is the significant one. Q4 2025/26 covers January to March 2026, the final quarter before the duty increase, and it arrives alongside the full annual report for the year. The 3 December release is the first to include any post-increase trading period.
The UK’s most-visited gambling domains
The Commission’s data covers revenue and licensed capacity at sector level. It is not broken down by brand. Web traffic gives a brand-level view of where UK demand is going.
The table below covers monthly visits to the 14 largest UK-facing gambling domains across June and July 2026, with device split and month-on-month and year-on-year change. All 14 domains list direct traffic as their main acquisition channel, which is what a mature market with established brand recall looks like.
| Domain | Visits | Desktop visits | Mobile visits | Mobile share | MoM | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| skybet.com | 16.31M | 3.57M | 12.74M | 78.1% | +5.69% | +0.01% |
| national-lottery.co.uk | 13.3M | 3.18M | 10.12M | 76.1% | +8.86% | -20.24% |
| bet365.com | 10.74M | 4.31M | 6.43M | 59.8% | +12.77% | -25.93% |
| paddypower.com | 10.64M | 3.34M | 7.29M | 68.6% | +16.25% | -0.94% |
| williamhill.com | 8.71M | 3.2M | 5.51M | 63.2% | +4.99% | -2.32% |
| ladbrokes.com | 7.6M | 2.48M | 5.12M | 67.4% | -3.41% | +8.03% |
| betfair.com | 7.3M | 3.33M | 3.97M | 54.4% | +14.38% | +0.64% |
| coral.co.uk | 6.08M | 1.51M | 4.57M | 75.2% | -7.27% | +2.63% |
| betfred.com | 5.13M | 1.45M | 3.67M | 71.7% | +14.43% | -12.11% |
| 32red.com | 4.44M | 2.45M | 1.99M | 44.9% | +22.89% | +101.76% |
| unibet.co.uk | 3.27M | 705.24K | 2.56M | 78.4% | -7.98% | -31.16% |
| mrq.com | 2.75M | 410.28K | 2.34M | 85.1% | +2.68% | +224.28% |
| midnite.com | 2.49M | 724.29K | 1.77M | 70.9% | -0.71% | +251.25% |
| betway.com | 2.18M | 585.84K | 1.6M | 73.2% | -1.38% | +44.48% |
What a visit measures, and what it does not
A visit is a single session on a domain. It starts when a user arrives and ends after a period of inactivity or when the user leaves. One person can generate many visits in a month: a bettor who checks odds each morning, places a bet at lunchtime and checks a cash-out in the evening produces three visits, not one.
The measurement covers web sessions on both desktop and mobile browsers. It does not capture native app usage. Visits are not active players and they are not revenue. They measure popularity, search intent and where user preference sits in a market. A domain can rank high on visits while converting poorly, and a domain with modest traffic can carry a high-value customer base. Read the table as a demand and brand-awareness signal, not a revenue league table.
The year-on-year picture
Across the 14 domains, the group totals roughly 100.9 million monthly visits. Ownership concentration is heavier than the domain list suggests. Flutter Entertainment operates three of the top seven properties: Sky Bet and Sky Vegas at 16.31 million, Paddy Power at 10.64 million and Betfair at 7.3 million, a combined 34.25 million visits, or about 34% of the tracked total. Entain’s Ladbrokes and Coral add 13.68 million between them. Evoke’s William Hill and 32Red account for 13.15 million.
The largest year-on-year gains sit with the challenger brands. Midnite grew 251.25%, MrQ 224.28% and 32Red 101.76%. Betway added 44.48%. These are the four smallest domains on the list by absolute visits, but the trajectory is consistent: UK players are trying newer, mobile-first products. MrQ has the highest mobile share on the table at 85.1%.
The largest declines are at the top of the market. Unibet fell 31.16% year on year, bet365 25.93% and the National Lottery 20.24%. Betfred lost 12.11%. Sky Bet and Sky Vegas were flat at +0.01%, and Paddy Power, William Hill and Betfair moved less than 2.5% in either direction.
Month on month, 9 of the 14 domains grew. Bet365 rose 12.77%, Paddy Power 16.25%, Betfred 14.43%, Betfair 14.38% and 32Red 22.89%, alongside an 8.86% rise for the National Lottery. Coral fell 7.27%, Unibet 7.98%, Ladbrokes 3.41%, Betway 1.38% and Midnite 0.71%.
32Red is the outlier on device mix. It is the only domain on the list where desktop leads, at 2.45 million desktop visits against 1.99 million mobile, a 44.9% mobile share. Betfair, at 54.4% mobile, and bet365, at 59.8%, are the next most desktop-weighted, consistent with exchange betting and in-play products that favour a larger screen.
Layoffs across the UK market
Cost reduction followed the Budget within days and has continued through 2026. TGE has tracked the wider pattern in its coverage of iGaming layoffs across the sector.
Entain confirmed in July 2026 that it was cutting around 500 roles, roughly 2% of its global workforce, across corporate functions, product and technology. Chief executive Stella David had said in March 2026 that no job cuts were planned. Entain closed a number of Ladbrokes shops in Ireland earlier in the year and agreed to sell a 20% stake in Entain CEE to EMMA Capital for €425 million. Group debt stood at £3.64 billion at the end of 2025, close to its market capitalisation.
“As part of our ongoing focus on enhancing Entain’s operational efficiency and agility, we have begun implementing organisational changes which will regrettably impact a number of roles across the group over the months ahead,” the company said.
Evoke is now the subject of a £243 million all-share takeover agreed with Bally’s Intralot.
Flutter Entertainment confirmed layoffs earlier in 2026, concentrated in marketing teams. It has argued that its scale and UK market position leave it better placed than smaller rivals to absorb the duty increase.
Rank Group, which operates Grosvenor Casinos and Mecca Bingo, said ahead of its full-year results that job cuts had allowed it to increase operating profit despite the tax rise in the final quarter. Rank is one of the few UK-facing operators to have reported a positive earnings effect from restructuring.
On the supplier side, IGT cut 700 roles globally in March 2026 as part of post-merger restructuring, and LSports reduced headcount in an AI-driven reorganisation in May 2026. Both companies serve UK-licensed operators.
Entain put the industry’s contribution at £7 billion a year and more than 100,000 jobs when it responded to the Budget. Whether that number holds is the question the next 12 months answer.
What to watch
Three dates now shape the UK market. The Gambling Commission publishes Q4 2025/26 and its annual report on 17 September 2026, closing the pre-increase record. The first data covering trading under the 40% rate arrives on 3 December 2026. And in April 2027 the new 25% remote betting duty lands on sportsbooks that have already absorbed one increase.
The open question is where the displaced volume goes. Operators and the Commission agree that a higher duty rate widens the price advantage held by unlicensed sites. The £26 million allocated to enforcement is the government’s answer. Whether it is enough will show up first in traffic data, months before it shows up in GGY.
Source: Gambling Commission reports, Financial reports of public listed companies, Press Releases
