High streets around the UK are in decline. Shops are moving to out of town shopping centres where parking is free and have huge accessibility as a result. Many brands have been forced to close their doors and many of them have been able to shift online to tap into the success of that market.
The betting industry has been one of the sectors that have been hit hard by the high street dying off. There was a time when high streets were buzzing with a hive of activity, but in terms of the bookmaker, they have been forced to move with the times and take a leap online.
The stats don’t make for particularly good reading either. Numbers have been pretty consistently reducing since the 90s and whilst bookmakers are still able to make a decent return within their stores, the popularity of them has definitely started to diminish. A stigma around the industry and the increase in problem gamblers (or at least the increase in new surrounding them) has definitely had a negative effect on how these shops have been portrayed.
Number of Betting Shops
At its peak, the UK had over 16,000 betting shops throughout the country. They were in pretty much every town and city, often with multiple brands to choose from with each. The sites that they obtained were of high profile and this meant that they were often right in the heart of most high streets, rather than being hidden away up side streets and just generally out of site.
In 2025, it was reported that this number had been cut to just 5,825, almost a third of the “glory” years. The problem that they have now is that these numbers are continuing to decrease year on year. From 2024 through 2025, the decrease was around 1.8% overall, with over 100 stores closing. These numbers are actually pretty stable given some of the recent closures that the industry has seen.
However, whilst the numbers seem staggeringly low right now compared to what they were. They have actually seen a bit of stabilisation over the last decade or so and it’s only been since 2018 where the numbers have been decreasing again. Interestingly, there were actually more high street betting shops open in 2014 than in 2009, with a peak coming in 2012 seeing that number rise to 9128 in 2012.
| Year | No. of Betting Shops | Percent Change from Previous Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 8,872 | N/A |
| 2010 | 8,822 | -0.56% |
| 2011 | 9,067 | +2.78% |
| 2012 | 9,128 | +0.67% |
| 2013 | 9,100 | -0.31% |
| 2014 | 9,111 | +0.12% |
| 2015 | 8,995 | -1.27% |
| 2016 | 8,915 | -0.89% |
| 2017 | 8,800 | -1.29% |
| 2018 | 8,559 | -2.74% |
| 2019 | 8,304 | -2.98% |
| 2020 | 7,683 | -7.48% |
| 2021 | 6,472 | -15.76% |
| 2022 | 6,242 | -3.55% |
| 2023 | 6,017 | -3.60% |
| 2024 | 5,931 | -1.43% |
| 2025 | 5,825 | -1.79% |
Note: Table may include revised figures.
As you can see from the table above, the number of betting shops over the last half decade has been relatively stable. But, as we write, there is a definite decline and these numbers are likely to continue this way.
Online & Mobile Betting
Let’s talk about the first significant change that culled almost half of the industry. This was of course mainly down to the increase in online and mobile betting. For the first time, people were able to bet from the comfort of their own home or even whilst on the go. There was no need to bet within a betting shop and it could be done discretely and almost anonymously if a player wished.
Online betting changed the gambling industry forever and whilst the number have grown to a industry that is now worth £14.4bn a year in the UK alone, the downside of the success was felt most on the high street. You even look at the number of track side bookmakers at racecourses, which have seen a similar trend in decline as the high street due to people attending fewer meetings and even then, betting via their smartphone whilst at the races.
To give you an idea of the success of remote gambling, in 2019, it was reported that they had seen an increase in online betting of 2.9% for the year. The market sector for remote betting is now 38.8% a number that has risen 6% in just 3 years. These numbers are going to continue to rise as generations who have been brought up using technology will continue to use remote products over the high street.
The Rise & Fall of Fixed Odds Betting Terminals
But there have been times of stabilisation for high street bookmakers and this can be seen as they even increased the number of betting shops in 2011 and 2012. The main reason for this were FOBT (Fixed Odds Betting Terminals).
These machines are basically mini-casinos and contain games, such as Roulette and Blackjack. They allowed punters to bet large sums of money very quickly and in turn, lose large sums of money very quickly. The machines turned into huge cash cows for betting shops and are one of the main reasons why many betting shops actually kept their doors open.
However, the Gambling Commission ordered that the number of machines per shop had to be limited to just 4 in order to stop them becoming more like a casino hall than a betting shop. This initially had an effect on the bookmakers in terms of their revenue, which was now limited.
The workaround came about in the form of simply opening up more stores to have more FOBTs running. Whilst bookmakers would never admit they are opening up new shops for these machines, those in the know were well aware why they were doing it. This is why it wasn’t uncommon to see two or more bookmakers of the same brand on the exact same high street, simply to have more machines running.
As is often the case, all good things must come to an end eventually and this is exactly what happened with FOBTs. The Gambling Commission researched that these machines were one of the main causes of problem gambling in the UK, an epidemic that had continued to rise since the introduction of video-type casino games.
To combat this, maximum bet limits of £2 were added on to these machines to stop people loosing too much money too quickly. This came about initially in 2018 and it’s no coincidence that as the money the machines can now make has been limited, the number of betting shops have started to decrease. In fact, 2018 and 2019 have seen the biggest decrease in betting shops over the last 10 years and it looks like this trend will continue, albeit at a slower rate than many experts had predicted when the new laws were passed.
Brand Dominance
There are four big names that are still active on the high street to date. These include William Hill, Ladbrokes, Coral and Betfred. Please note that Ladbrokes and Coral are part of the same group, but they still operate shops under their original brand names, so bear this in mind with any info relating to those two in this article.
Betfred
The number of shops that are owned by each has changed quite a bit over the last decade or so. But it’s been really interesting to see that not all of them are in decline. In fact, Betfred have more than double the high street betting shops in 2018 that they had in 2009. Their numbers have grown from 806 up to 1667 betting shops and they look set to keep this increasing.
Ladbrokes Coral Group
They were able to strike a deal with the Ladbrokes Coral Group in 2017 when they were ordered to sell a chunk of their betting shops as part of the merger in order to satisfy market competition within the UK. This added 322 betting shops in total. It appears that from a statement issued not long after the purchases they intend for this number to increase, which it has.
This is very different from that of both Coral and Ladbrokes however, who have been steadily culling a lot of their stores, even after the merger and sale of 322 shops to Betfred. Ladbrokes have closed a further 60 stores since the sale with Coral closing almost 100. Whilst they still have the largest combined betting shop profile, with around 3,500 stores in the UK, it’s likely they move to lower this number as their selling continues.
William Hill
William Hill have remained very steady. They have the highest number of independent betting shops with 2,298 in total in 2018. This number rose as high as 2,345 in 2013 but has never been as low as 2,238 in 2009. The numbers seem to be really solid for William Hill and they are likely going to hold firm moving forward, mainly because the size of the company means they are able to operate some stores at breakeven and still be worth their while for branding purposes.
Other Notable Brands
Outside of these you have “other” bookmakers, that include the likes of Paddy Power, Totesport and Jennings Bet, along with plenty of independent brands. These guys have been hit the hardest and from a high of 1,607 stores in 2012, there are now just 1079, with their numbers failing rapidly. It’s going to be very hard for them to compete moving forward, especially as the smaller ones won’t have an online presence either.
Betting Shop Distribution
The north-south divide is one that is very apparent when it comes to the distribution of betting shops in the UK. There is a huge increase in the number of these stores in northern towns and cities than there are in southern towns.
In fact, only 1 town south of Leeds (Aylesbury) makes it into a list of the top ten places with the highest percentage of population per betting shop. Top of the list is that of Grimsby, with 1 betting shop for every 6,721 people. They overtook the likes of Darlington, South Shields and Huddersfield to take the “crown”. The full top 10 are as follows:
Top 10 Towns with Most Betting Shops Per Capita
- Grimsby
- Darlington
- South Shields
- Huddersfield
- Oldham
- Stockport
- Blackpool
- Aylesbury
- Pontefract
- Bootle
Towns with the fewest number of betting shops per capita include the likes of Oxford (lowest with 1 for every 11,398 residents), Ilford, Hayes, Southend-On-Sea and Luton. What is noticeable is that only Rochdale can be seen as a northern town on the list, which highlights the north-south divide even further.
Top 10 Towns with Fewest Betting Shops Per Capita
- Oxford
- Ilford
- Hayes
- Southend-on-Sea
- Luton
- Smethwick
- Houslow
- Rochdale
- Brentwood
- Cambridge
The grim reality of it all is that the betting shops are targeting the lowest income areas where they always perform better than affluent areas of the UK. Lower income people are more likely to bet, even though they have much less disposable income than most people.
To put that into context, the average house price in Oxford is just shy of £490,000, whereas in Grimsby, it’s just £150,000. In terms of salary, people in Grimsby earn on average £21,000, whereas Oxford they earn £26,500.
Future of Betting Shops
The numbers don’t read well for the high street. Betting is moving online and whilst there are still a good range of betting shops at the minute, the future does not look great. Many believe that the limitations of FOBTs will see the industry start to totally collapse and this might be true. But early signs from these machines being limited haven’t been nearly as bad as first thought, which gives the betting shop some hope.
Also, Boylesports announced in March 2019 that they will be heading to the UK for the first time as a high street bookmaker, initially buying out indepedant bookmaker, Wilf Gilbert, acquiring their 13 stores but state that the deal is just the start, with around 100 sites set to open within the next 12 months.
What’s interesting about the Boylesports case is that they have never run FOBTs in any of their betting shops in Ireland as they are actually banned there. They also state they have no plans to include them in their UK stores either, highlighting how lucrative the high street can still be.
We expect that more independent bookies will start to gradually fall away though. It’s been these numbers that have seen the sharpest trend over the last decade or so and we think this will continue. In terms of the more established brands, well they will likely consolidate what they’ve got right now and likely assess after the dust settles on the limitations to the FOBTs.