Gambling Commission Publishes 2025 to 2026 Licensing Authority Statistics on Local Regulatory Activities
The UK Gambling Commission released its annual Licensing Authority Statistics report on 30 July 2026, and this document details regulatory work carried out by local licensing authorities under the Gambling Act 2005 during the period from April 2025 to March 2026. Data came from 318 of Britain’s 350 licensing authorities, and the figures cover inspections along with compliance events plus related duties that authorities performed throughout the year. An accompanying Excel dataset supplies year-on-year comparisons that stretch back to 2016, which allows direct tracking of trends in local enforcement and oversight. Local licensing authorities hold responsibility for issuing premises licences and permits while they also conduct compliance checks on gambling venues within their jurisdictions. The report aggregates the returns these authorities submitted, and it presents the information in tables that break down activity by inspection type, compliance outcome, and geographic region. Because the dataset reaches back a full decade, analysts can compare the 2025 to 2026 numbers against earlier periods when the regulatory framework operated under the same legislation.Scope of Data Collected from Licensing Authorities
Three hundred eighteen licensing authorities provided the information that appears in the latest release, and this coverage represents a substantial portion of the 350 authorities operating across Great Britain. The statistics record the number of inspections completed, the outcomes of those visits, and any enforcement actions that followed. Additional fields track the volume of premises licence applications received, the decisions issued, and the time taken to process each case. The Excel file allows users to filter results by authority size, by region, or by specific activity type, which makes the underlying numbers accessible for further examination.
The period covered runs from April 2025 through March 2026, and this twelve-month window aligns with the financial year used by most public bodies in the United Kingdom. Figures therefore reflect activity that took place after the previous report closed and before the current one began. The Gambling Commission compiled the returns centrally, checked them for consistency, and then published both the summary narrative and the full dataset on its website.Historical Comparisons Available in the Dataset
The Excel file includes columns for every year from 2016 onward, and this structure lets readers see how inspection rates, compliance rates, and licence processing times have changed over time. Early years in the series coincide with the full implementation of the Gambling Act 2005, whereas later entries capture the effects of subsequent policy adjustments and operational shifts within local authorities. Researchers can calculate percentage changes between any two years or produce charts that illustrate long-term movement in key indicators. Because the data arrive directly from licensing authorities, the report serves as the primary official source for local-level gambling regulation statistics in Great Britain. The Commission notes that participation levels have remained high across the series, and the 2025 to 2026 return continues that pattern with responses from 318 authorities.