DCMS data shows gambling among sectors driving regional growth

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published new regional economic estimates on 5 November 2026, setting out the contribution of its sectors, including gambling, to gross value added (GVA) across UK regions.

According to DCMS, overall DCMS sector GVA stood at £247.6 billion in 2024, representing 9.4% of the UK economy. Within this, the creative industries, culture, gambling and sport sectors together generated £172.4 billion, or 6.6% of UK GVA. The department said tourism and civil society were not included in this release due to data availability, and that the digital sector is also excluded following machinery of government changes in July 2026 that moved responsibility for digital sector statistics from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to DCMS.

DCMS said London generated almost half of the included sector GVA in 2024, at 47.0%, a pattern it attributed mainly to the creative industries and the overlapping cultural sector. The department noted that regional differences were less pronounced within the gambling and sport sectors specifically.

The figures show GVA across these sectors grew in every UK region between 2023 and 2024. DCMS said the largest absolute increases were recorded in London, at £3.1 billion, followed by the North West and South East, each up £0.6 billion. In relative terms, the department said Northern Ireland saw the largest increase, at 11.9%, ahead of the North West at 5.2% and Yorkshire and The Humber at 4.8%.

DCMS also said that, compared with 2019 figures, GVA from these sectors in 2024 was higher in every UK region except the East of England.

Source: GOV.UK.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.