Key Takeaways
- Great Britain’s gambling industry generated £4.45 billion during the final three months of 2025, with remote casino, betting and bingo producing £2.12 billion.
- Global on-chain gambling volume reached $51 billion in 2025 before recording a further $14 billion during the first quarter of 2026.
- Crypto gambling remains difficult to separate from the offshore and unregulated markets in the United States.
Great Britain’s licensed gambling industry generated £4.45 billion in gross gambling yield during the fourth calendar quarter of 2025, as online casino and betting platforms continued to eclipse their land-based counterparts.
However, the figures leave one increasingly important part of the market largely invisible — crypto betting.
While there is currently no reliable way to calculate crypto betting’s portion of the British market, a look at its global hold shows the market is rapidly growing.
Online Gambling Leads Britain’s £4.5B Market
The Gambling Commission’s latest industry statistics put total gross gambling yield at £4.45 billion for the three months ending Dec. 31.
GGY represents the amount retained by operators after winnings have been paid.
Remote casino, betting, and bingo contributed £2.12 billion, compared with £1.22 billion across land-based arcades, betting shops, bingo venues, and casinos.
That placed online products at approximately 63% of the non-lottery market.
Remote casino was the dominant product, generating £1.49 billion, or 70% of the entire online segment.
Online betting contributed £599.05 million, while remote bingo produced £38.66 million.
Customers wagered a combined £39.18 billion across the three online categories.
Separate operator data published in May suggested that online growth continued into the first three months of 2026.
The Commission’s sample of major operators reported £1.55 billion in online GGY between January and March, representing a 7% annual increase.
Online slots revenue increased 12% to £773 million, while real-event betting GGY edged 1% higher to £600 million.
The number of real-event bets fell 8%, while average monthly active betting accounts declined 5%.
How Much of UK Gambling Comes From Crypto?
There is no published figure showing how much of Britain’s licensed gambling activity involves crypto assets.
The Commission categorizes revenue by product, such as casino games, sports betting, slots, poker, and bingo—not by the payment method used to fund an account.
Crypto gambling is not automatically prohibited in Britain, but accepting digital assets does not allow an operator to bypass existing licensing requirements.
The Commission’s digital-currency guidance states that operators accepting crypto directly or through a payment processor must demonstrate that they can meet anti-money laundering obligations.
Licensed businesses must also notify the regulator when introducing new payment methods and explain how those arrangements have been incorporated into their risk assessments.
It has also warned licence applicants against relying on crypto-funded capital unless they can provide a complete history showing where those assets came from.
Where Does Crypto Betting Sit in the US?
The United States has a substantially larger regulated gambling market, but its official industry figures contain the same crypto blind spot.
According to the American Gaming Association, commercial gaming generated a record $78.72 billion in revenue during 2025, increasing 9.2% year over year.
Legal sports betting contributed $16.96 billion in revenue from $166.94 billion wagered, while regulated online casino gaming generated $10.74 billion.
Neither category includes a separate breakdown for deposits or bets made using crypto.
TRM Labs said most crypto gambling platforms hold licenses in jurisdictions such as Curaçao or have no comparable authorization at all.
The AGA separately estimated that Americans place approximately $84 billion in sports wagers and $466.2 billion in online casino wagers annually through unregulated channels.
While these figures are not crypto-specific, they show the size of the offshore market in which many crypto casinos operate.
Bitcoin Gambling Share Collapses as Crypto Betting Hits $51B
Bitcoin’s declining role is one of the biggest changes to emerge from crypto gambling’s recent expansion.
According to TRM Labs’ analysis, Bitcoin-based gambling accounted for approximately 36% of volume across eight major blockchain networks in 2022.
By 2025, that share had fallen to around 2% — a 34-percentage-point collapse in three years.
However, gamblers did not abandon crypto.
On-chain gambling platforms received $51 billion during 2025, with quarterly volume reaching a record $15 billion during the final three months of the year.
Activity remained near that peak of $14 billion during the first quarter of 2026.
TRM attributed Bitcoin’s shrinking role partly to its transaction fees and technical structure, which can create friction for platforms processing smaller-value deposits and withdrawals.
Lower-cost networks have increasingly captured that activity.
TRON attracted $19.3 billion in gambling inflows in 2025, accounting for 38% of the volume across the eight blockchains analyzed by TRM.
The network’s low transaction costs and large supply of USDT make it better suited for repeated gambling payments than Bitcoin.
Stablecoins and Gambling
Stablecoins accounted for approximately 70% of all tracked on-chain gambling volume between 2022 and early 2026.
These reduce an additional risk faced by gamblers using Bitcoin or Ether.
For example, a bettor depositing $100 in BTC is exposed both to the outcome of the wager and to changes in Bitcoin’s price.
A $100 stablecoin deposit, by contrast, should keep approximately the same dollar value while the bet is settled.
More than two million personal wallets interacted with gambling platforms between January 2022 and March 2026.
High rollers represented just 6.3% of those wallets but generated almost 92% of personal-wallet volume.
However, smaller user categories were expanding more quickly.
Monthly volume from casual bettors increased elevenfold between January 2022 and March 2026, while activity from lower-stakes users increased twelvefold.
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The information provided in this article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be, nor should it be construed as, financial advice. We do not make any warranties regarding the completeness, reliability, or accuracy of this information. All investments involve risk, and past performance does not guarantee future results. We recommend consulting a financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
