Westminster, Liverpool and Glasgow have the most betting shops per head, register shows
Great Britain has 6,235 licensed betting shops, 0.92 for every 10,000 residents, but the concentration is more than double that in parts of London, Merseyside and Scotland.
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Westminster, Liverpool and Glasgow have the highest concentration of betting shops in Great Britain, according to an analysis of the Gambling Commission’s premises register against official population figures.
The register lists 8,862 licensed gambling premises, 6,235 of them betting shops. That is 0.92 betting shops for every 10,000 residents, based on ONS mid-2025 population estimates.
Westminster has 2.50 for every 10,000 residents (53 shops), Liverpool 2.36 (120) and Glasgow 2.14 (140). Enfield, Haringey, Brent and Middlesbrough complete the top seven, each at 1.90 or more.
South Cambridgeshire has the fewest, with one betting shop for its 174,641 residents.
| Council | Betting shops | Per 10,000 residents |
|---|---|---|
| Westminster | 53 | 2.50 |
| Liverpool | 120 | 2.36 |
| Glasgow City | 140 | 2.14 |
| Enfield | 67 | 2.03 |
| Haringey | 52 | 1.95 |
| Brent | 67 | 1.90 |
| Middlesbrough | 29 | 1.90 |
| North Lanarkshire | 65 | 1.89 |
| South Ayrshire | 19 | 1.69 |
| Great Yarmouth | 17 | 1.68 |
Among the largest cities, Manchester has 1.26 per 10,000 residents, Birmingham 1.09, Leeds 0.93 and Bristol 0.81.
Who runs them
Four licence holders account for most of the country’s betting shops: Ladbrokes Betting & Gaming Limited with 2,681, Done Brothers (Cash Betting) Limited with 1,415, William Hill Organization Limited with 1,255 and Power Leisure Bookmakers Limited with 349.
How it was counted
Premises are from the Gambling Commission’s premises licence register. Councils with fewer than 30,000 residents, such as the City of London, are shown but not ranked, because a per-head figure there reflects the tiny resident population rather than the high street. The register still files some venues under councils abolished in the 2019 to 2023 reorganisations; they are counted under the councils that replaced them.
Figures for every council, with every licensed venue, are in the Gambling News premises data.