Gordian Quest

What is Gordian Quest?

Great Britain’s gambling industry generated £17.5 billion ($23.4 billion) in gross gambling yield (GGY) during FY2026, a 4.4% increase from the previous year.

Excluding lotteries, the Gambling Commission reported that GGY rose 4.7% to £13.2 billion ($17.7 billion) between April 2025 and March 2026.

Growth was strongest online, where remote casino, betting, and bingo GGY climbed 6.9% to £8.3 billion ($11.1 billion), compared with a modest 1.1% increase across land-based sectors.

What is Gordian Quest?

Entain has issued a stark warning in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Andy Burnham about the potential impact of a proposed increase to the Machine Games Duty (MGD). 

Ahead of the government’s Autumn Budget in October, Entain CEO Stella David cautioned that doubling the current MGD rate to 40% could result in widespread closures of betting shops and significant job losses, while potentially reducing tax revenues for the government.

A potential MGD rise was first reported in the The Financial Times, as Chancellor John Healey is allegedly looking to raise the tax, on the recommendation of the Social Market Foundation, which proposed the increase in a recent report.

About Gordian Quest

Joey Feazel, head of football at Caesars Sportsbook, told Casino.org that favorites, Overs, and anytime touchdown scorers combined to create a bettor-friendly trifecta. Bettors only faced major resistance when the Los Angeles Chargers were upset by the Arizona Cardinals.

However, LSR noted that traditional game outcomes are no longer reliable indicators of bookmaker profitability, largely due to the rapid growth of same-game parlays and player props.

In the Las Vegas-based Circa Survivor contest, which drew over 25,000 entries entering Week 1, more than 8,000 entries were eliminated in the opening slate—most knocked out when the 8.5-point favorite Chargers fell to the Cardinals. That upset served as a proxy for the wider market, ruining countess parlay tickets across major sportsbooks.