How big is the UK bingo market?
The UK bingo sector generated £816 million in gross gambling yield (GGY) in the financial year April 2024 to March 2025 — approximately 5% of Britain's £16.8 billion gambling industry. Venue bingo contributed £650.4 million, up 3.5% year on year, while online bingo added £165.6 million. Within venues, the money is no longer mainly in the bingo games themselves: £226.4 million came from bingo games and £424.0 million from gaming machines on bingo premises. All figures are from the UK Gambling Commission's industry statistics annual report, the official source for gambling market data in Great Britain.
| Segment | GGY (FY 2024/25) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Venue bingo — total | £650.4m | Up 3.5% year on year |
| — of which bingo games | £226.4m | ≈35% of venue GGY |
| — of which gaming machines | £424.0m | ≈65% of venue GGY |
| Online bingo | £165.6m | Part of the £7.8bn remote sector |
| Total bingo sector | £816m | ≈5% of all GB gambling GGY |
Source: UKGC Industry Statistics, Annual Report FY 2024/25; sector summary per UKGC deputy CEO speech, Bingo Association AGM, May 2026.
The most recent quarterly data (October–December 2025) shows venue bingo generating £173.06 million and online bingo £38.66 million in the quarter, within a total industry quarterly GGY of £4.5 billion — as reported from UKGC quarterly statistics.
How many people play bingo in the UK?
3.3% of adults aged 18 and over played bingo in some form in 2024 — roughly one adult in thirty — according to the Gambling Survey for Great Britain (GSGB), the official participation survey which interviewed 19,714 adults across 2024. Within that, 1.2% of adults played in traditional bingo clubs — a figure that closely matches the Bingo Association's own admissions-based estimate of 1%.
The newest edition — the GSGB Annual Report 2025, published 16 July 2026 from a survey of 20,775 adults (fieldwork January 2025 to January 2026) — shows the wider picture holding steady: 47% of adults gambled in some form in the past four weeks (27% once lottery-only players are excluded), with 38% gambling online versus 28% in person, and 2.4% scoring 8 or more on the problem gambling severity index. For bingo specifically, the 2025 survey waves found 3% of adults had played bingo at a venue in the past four weeks (Waves 2 and 3, April–October 2025), and newly added venue-level questions put traditional bingo club play at 1.2% — a figure the Commission notes now closely aligns with the Bingo Association's admissions data, alongside 0.6% at working men's clubs and 0.4% at bingo-themed social events. Bingo remains a minority pursuit within gambling — but a remarkably durable one.
| Measure | Figure | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Adults playing bingo (any form) | 3.3% | 2024 |
| Adults playing bingo at a venue | 3% | 2025 (Waves 2–3) |
| Adults playing in traditional bingo clubs | 1.2% | 2025 |
| Adults gambling, past 4 weeks (all activities) | 47% | 2025 |
| Adults gambling online vs in person (all activities) | 38% / 28% | 2025 |
Sources: GSGB Annual Report 2024 headline statistics; GSGB Annual Report 2025 (published 16 July 2026); bingo-specific rates per GSGB Wave 3, 2025 and UKGC, May 2026. If gambling stops being fun, see our responsible gambling resources.
How many bingo halls are left in Britain?
Great Britain had 718 licensed bingo venues housing 74,439 gaming machines as of the October–December 2025 licensing data. The headline number hides a structural shift: traditional bingo clubs registered with the Bingo Association fell from 335 in December 2018 to 248 in August 2024, while slots-led "high street" bingo premises nearly doubled from 119 to 218 over the same period. The Gambling Commission notes that despite club closures, the total number of licensed bingo premises has remained steady. Gaming machines' share of venue bingo revenue tells the same story — 44% in the year to March 2014, 63% by the year to March 2024. The land-based sector supports around 7,000 jobs, and received a boost when the 10% bingo duty was abolished on 1 April 2026, announced at the Autumn Budget 2025.
| Measure | Then | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Bingo Association clubs | 335 (Dec 2018) | 248 (Aug 2024) |
| High-street bingo premises | 119 (2018) | 218 (2024) |
| Machines' share of venue bingo GGY | 44% (FY 2013/14) | 63% (FY 2023/24) |
| All licensed bingo venues (GB) | 718 (Oct–Dec 2025) | |
Sources: GOV.UK bingo premises licensing consultation; venue count via UKGC quarterly statistics; duty abolition per GOV.UK, 2026.
What has scrapping bingo duty actually been worth?
Two tax changes hit British bingo on the same day. Bingo duty — 10% on in-person bingo profits — was repealed with effect from 1 April 2026, while remote gaming duty, which is what online bingo pays, rose from 21% to 40% on that same date. Both were announced at the Autumn Budget 2025 (GOV.UK, Gambling duty changes). The sector's tax burden moved in opposite directions depending on which side of the counter the game is played — the clearest policy expression yet of the two-speed split running through every other number on this page.
The first hard measurement of what the land-based relief is worth arrived on 13 August 2026, when The Rank Group published preliminary results for the 12 months to 30 June 2026. Rank owns the Mecca chain and reports it as a separate division, so its accounts are the closest thing to a public reading of the duty change. The in-year benefit was £1.6 million — a single quarter's worth, since abolition landed at the start of Rank's Q4 — and the company expects an annualised benefit of about £6.4 million in 2026/27. Those are one operator's figures, not a sector total: no sector-wide estimate of the saving has been published, and we have not seen one we could source.
Mecca's trading improved alongside the relief, though not only because of it. Like-for-like net gaming revenue rose 4% to £143.0m, and underlying like-for-like operating profit more than doubled — up 107% to £8.9m from £4.3m. At statutory level the division made £7.8m against a £0.9m loss the year before. It did that while shrinking: nine clubs Rank described as “commercially unviable” closed during the year, taking the estate from 50 to 41, and those nine had turned over £12.6m. Visitor numbers fell 2% while spend per visit rose 6%. Closures and a profit recovery are, again, the same story rather than competing ones.
On the other side of the split, Rank's digital arm grew like-for-like revenue 8% (12% in the fourth quarter), but the company said it met the remote duty rise by “significantly reducing Above The Line marketing” and other efficiencies, and warned that “digital profitability will inevitably step down in 2026/27 … due to the annualised impact of RGD at 40%”. For online bingo, in other words, the tax change has barely started to show up in the numbers.
| Mecca Venues (Rank Group division) | FY 2024/25 | FY 2025/26 |
|---|---|---|
| Like-for-like net gaming revenue | £136.9m | £143.0m (+4%) |
| Underlying like-for-like operating profit | £4.3m | £8.9m (+107%) |
| Statutory operating profit | −£0.9m (loss) | £7.8m |
| Clubs in the estate | 50 | 41 (9 closed) |
| Bingo duty saving, in-year (Q4 only) | — | £1.6m |
| Bingo duty saving, annualised 2026/27 (company guidance) | — | c. £6.4m |
Sources: The Rank Group Plc, preliminary results for the 12 months ended 30 June 2026 (published 13 August 2026); duty rates per GOV.UK — Gambling duty changes. Mecca figures are one operator's divisional results and are not a sector total.
Who plays bingo in 2026?
The stereotype is out of date. In the WhichBingo 2025 Bingo Players Survey (a commercial survey of 1,200+ UK adults, February–March 2025 — the official GSGB does not publish bingo-specific demographic splits), Millennials aged 29–44 were the largest player group at 46%, ahead of Gen X (28.9%), Gen Z (14.9%) and Boomers (10%). 62.9% of players were female. Play is split almost evenly across channels: 38.5% play only in person, 36.5% only online, and 25% both. Most players are low-stakes — 56.4% spend £10 or less a month — and 14.4% said they had increased their play since 2024. If you're one of the online majority, our independently tested rankings and operator reviews cover every major UK site.
| Demographic | Share of players |
|---|---|
| Millennials (29–44) | 46% |
| Gen X (45–60) | 28.9% |
| Gen Z (18–28) | 14.9% |
| Boomers (61–79) | 10% |
| Female players | 62.9% |
| In person only / online only / both | 38.5% / 36.5% / 25% |
| Spending £0–£10 per month | 56.4% |
Source: WhichBingo 2025 Bingo Players Survey (commercial survey, 1,200+ respondents).
What are the biggest bingo wins on record?
The largest payout for a single-house bingo game anywhere in the world is $440,000 (£328,591), won at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, USA on 4 July 2026, per Guinness World Records — a record the USA took from Britain, where Buzz Bingo Cricklewood paid out £105,000 on a single game in March 2025. The biggest win associated with a UK online bingo site is widely reported as £5.9 million, won by John Orchard of Lincolnshire in December 2012 — technically a progressive slot jackpot from a 30p spin at an online bingo brand. The largest traditional hall win commonly cited is £1.2 million by Soraya Lowell in Coatbridge, Scotland in 2008 (both per OLBG's jackpot records roundup). Curious how the games behind these prizes work? Start with our 90-ball bingo guide.
Sources & methodology
Every figure on this page was verified against the listed source in July 2026. Where a statistic comes from a commercial survey rather than official statistics, we say so inline. UKGC industry statistics are updated twice a year (May and November) and the GSGB annually — we update this page when new editions publish. Company results are used only where a listed operator has published them and we can link the release itself. Most recent update: 23 August 2026, adding the bingo duty and remote gaming duty section from The Rank Group's preliminary results (published 13 August 2026); before that, 18 July 2026, incorporating the GSGB Annual Report 2025 (published 16 July 2026).
- UK Gambling Commission — Industry Statistics, Annual Report FY April 2024–March 2025
- UK Gambling Commission — Industry Statistics (landing page, incl. quarterly updates)
- Gambling Survey for Great Britain — Annual Report 2024, headline statistics
- GSGB — Statistics on gambling participation, Year 2 (2024)
- GSGB — Annual Report 2025 (Year 3), published 16 July 2026
- GSGB — Statistics on gambling participation, Wave 3 (July–October 2025)
- UKGC — Coherence of GSGB estimates with Bingo Association data
- UKGC — deputy CEO speech to the Bingo Association AGM, 7 May 2026
- GOV.UK — Bingo premises licensing consultation
- GOV.UK — Bingo duty abolition, Autumn Budget 2025
- iGaming Business — UKGC quarterly statistics, Oct–Dec 2025
- GOV.UK — Gambling duty changes (bingo duty repeal; remote gaming duty 21% to 40%, from 1 April 2026)
- The Rank Group Plc — Preliminary results, 12 months ended 30 June 2026 (published 13 August 2026)
- WhichBingo — 2025 Bingo Players Survey
- Guinness World Records — largest single-house bingo payout
- OLBG — biggest bingo jackpots
Citing these statistics? You're welcome to quote any figure on this page with attribution and a link to online-bingo.com.
