Statistics and research release
Cross-venue machines data
We have collected data taken from machines located in licensed betting offices (LBO), adult gaming centres (AGC) and bingo venues.
Summary
Also published recently
We have obtained data which reveal patterns of play on the same category but across different gambling venues. For example, this enables comparison between the way B3 machines are played in bookmakers as opposed to adult gaming centres.
This is the first time that cross-venue data has been made available.
Update: 9 February 2017
We have been provided with updated data relating to the number of plays played at the maximum stake at licensed betting offices. The changes have been made in tab 6 of the LBO machines data excel spreadsheet.
It is important to note that we have not yet drawn any final conclusions on any data or other sources of evidence. We will be reviewing a wide range of evidence as we develop our final advice to government.
Details
Features of each category of play
| Machine category | Features | Permitted location | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max stake | Max prize | Cycle speed | LBO | AGC | Bingo | |
| B2 | £100 | £500 | 20s | Yes | No | No |
| B3 | £2 | £500 | 2.5s | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| C | £1 | £100 | 2.5s | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Within the datasets it is important to note that play is categorised by the regulations under which the specific game operates and not by the stake size.
The spreadsheets are split into ten tabs for each of the venues:
Headline data
The data are based on:
| LBO | AGC | Bingo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plays | 20bn | 854.6m | 1.5bn |
| Sessions | 421.7m | 6.7m | 13.5m |
| Machines | 34,576 | 3,133 | 4,011 |
| Venues | 8,867 | 643 | 266 |
The spreadsheets are split into ten tabs for each of the venues:
- number of venues and machines
- number of plays (bets) and sessions
- number of sessions by average stake size
- number of sessions by session length
- number of sessions by net expenditure (note a negative shows a customer win)
- use of maximum permitted stakes
- average stake size by session duration
- average stake size by session outcome
- session outcome by duration
- time of day metrics.
This data was provided by SG Gaming and Inspired Gaming.
Limitations - September 2026 update
During analysis undertaken in 2026 of a separate machines dataset collected as part of the Commission's gaming machine consultation (opens in new tab), an anomaly was identified whereby data from gaming machines located in certain 'high street' bingo premises had been incorrectly allocated to the Adult Gaming Centre (AGC) sector.
Given the nature of this issue, the Commission considers it likely that similar classification errors may also be present within the dataset published on this page.
Stakeholder engagement has indicated that gaming machine activity within 'high street' bingo premises may be more comparable to activity within AGCs than to that observed in traditional bingo clubs. The Commission considers this to be a reasonable interpretation of the available evidence.
As a result, the AGC dataset is likely to provide a broadly representative picture of gaming machine activity within that sector. However, the bingo dataset may primarily reflect activity within traditional bingo clubs and may therefore not fully represent the licensed bingo sector as a whole.
If machine data from 'high street' bingo premises were correctly classified within the bingo sector, the Commission would expect to observe a modest increase in activity at the upper and lower ends of the distributions presented for bingo premises.