The UK Casino Index
Welcome to the UK Casino Index, your go-to guide for uncovering the nation’s hotspots for casino gaming. We’ve crunched the numbers to reveal which towns and counties boast the highest concentration of casinos per person and per square mile. Whether you’re a casual player or a high roller, this is the place to find out where the UK’s biggest casino hotspots are and to see if your hometown or home county is one of the go-to places in the United Kingdom for gambling.
Dover crowned the casino capital of the UK, with over 90 casinos per million people
With over 90 casinos per million people, Dover is the UK’s casino capital. The south coast town has four casinos, which means it has 90.03 for every million people living in the town, over 20 more than second place on our list. Next time you’re planning on getting the ferry to Calais, you can spend a night in the newly crowned casino capital of the UK first!
Irvine, North Ayrshire – 58.67 casinos per million people
The small town of Irvine on the west coast of Scotland has a small population of 34,090, but has two casinos, meaning it has 58.67 casinos per million people. The home of the Scottish Maritime Museum now has a new claim to fame – Scotland’s casino capital.
Great Yarmouth, Norfolk – 48.92 casinos per million people
Norfolk’s seaside town Great Yarmouth comes in third on our list with 48.92 casinos per million people. Like Irvine, it has two casinos but its small population of 40,883 means it places high on the index. If you’re going for a beach holiday to Great Yarmouth but the infamous British weather does its thing, a trip to one of the town’s casinos is an option.
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| Town/City | Population | Number of Casinos |
Casinos Per Person (per 1,000,000) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dover | 44,430 | 4 | 90.03 |
| Irvine | 34,090 | 2 | 58.67 |
| Great Yarmouth | 40,883 | 2 | 48.92 |
| Scarborough | 61,525 | 3 | 48.76 |
| Southampton | 269,231 | 13 | 48.28 |
| Blackpool | 145,722 | 4 | 27.44 |
| Bournemouth | 198,727 | 4 | 20.13 |
| Nottingham | 311,823 | 6 | 19.24 |
| Stockport | 110,000 | 2 | 18.18 |
| Basingstoke | 114,329 | 2 | 17.49 |
| Reading | 229,274 | 4 | 17.45 |
| Salford | 116,361 | 2 | 17.19 |
| Brighton | 241,999 | 4 | 16.53 |
| Portsmouth | 248,479 | 4 | 16.09 |
| Aberdeen | 200,680 | 3 | 14.95 |
| Bolton | 202,369 | 3 | 14.82 |
| Birkenhead | 144,756 | 2 | 13.82 |
| Dundee | 148,280 | 2 | 13.48 |
| Ipswich | 150,334 | 2 | 13.3 |
| Slough | 164,046 | 2 | 12.19 |
| Sheffield | 544,402 | 6 | 11.02 |
| Swansea | 184,436 | 2 | 10.84 |
| Coventry | 369,127 | 4 | 10.83 |
| Manchester | 554,400 | 6 | 10.82 |
| Newcastle Upon Tyne | 281,842 | 3 | 10.64 |
| Leicester | 470,965 | 5 | 10.62 |
| Bristol | 571,922 | 6 | 10.49 |
| Edinburgh | 488,050 | 5 | 10.24 |
| Leeds | 503,388 | 5 | 9.93 |
| Glasgow | 612,040 | 6 | 9.8 |
| Birmingham | 1,153,717 | 11 | 9.53 |
| Wolverhampton | 218,255 | 2 | 9.16 |
| Luton | 222,907 | 2 | 8.97 |
| Liverpool | 579,256 | 5 | 8.63 |
| Plymouth | 241,179 | 2 | 8.29 |
| Derby | 263,933 | 2 | 7.57 |
| Stoke on Trent | 277,051 | 2 | 7.22 |
| Hull | 288,671 | 2 | 6.92 |
| London | 8,907,918 | 54 | 6.06 |
| Cardiff | 350,558 | 2 | 5.71 |
Bristol tops the list of most casinos per square mile in UK counties
Bristol is one the smallest counties in the UK, thanks to King Edward III granting it a county charter in 1373. Fast forward 650 years, it has now been crowned as the UK county with the most casinos per square mile – one casino every 7 square miles.
Greater London – One casino every 11.2 square miles
The UK’s capital city is home to 54 casinos, meaning the county of Greater London is second on our list of most casinos by area in the country. You can find a casino every 11.2 square miles in Greater London, including the famous Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square.
West Midlands – One casino every 18.3 square miles
West Midlands comes in third on our list here, thanks in part to the 11 casinos in the city of Birmingham. The county has 19 in total, and one every 18.3 square miles, including Resorts World Birmingham in Solihull, which is home to the UK’s largest casino.
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| County | Area (Sq Mi) | Casinos | Square Miles per Casino |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bristol | 42 | 6 | 7 |
| London | 606 | 54 | 11.2 |
| West Midlands | 348 | 19 | 18.3 |
| Glasgow | 175 | 6 | 29.1 |
| Dundee | 60 | 2 | 30 |
| Merseyside | 250 | 7 | 35.7 |
| Greater Manchester | 493 | 13 | 37.9 |
| Edinburgh | 263 | 5 | 52.6 |
| Aberdeen | 186 | 3 | 62 |
| Hampshire | 1,455 | 17 | 85.5 |
| Berkshire | 487 | 6 | 81.1 |
| South Yorkshire | 599 | 6 | 99.8 |
| Nottinghamshire | 834 | 6 | 139 |
| West Yorkshire | 783 | 5 | 156.6 |
| Leicestershire | 832 | 5 | 166.4 |
| East Sussex | 692 | 4 | 173 |
| West Glamorgan | 468 | 2 | 234 |
| Bedfordshire | 477 | 2 | 238.5 |
| Dorset | 1,024 | 4 | 256 |
| Lancashire | 1,187 | 4 | 296.75 |
| Kent | 1,443 | 4 | 360.7 |
| North Ayrshire | 885 | 2 | 442.5 |
| East Riding of Yorkshire | 956 | 2 | 478 |
| Derbyshire | 1,014 | 2 | 507 |
| South Glamorgan | 1,071 | 2 | 535.5 |
| Suffolk | 1,468 | 2 | 734 |
| Tyne and Wear | 2,210 | 3 | 736.6 |
| Norfolk | 2,080 | 2 | 1,040 |
| North Yorkshire | 3,341 | 3 | 1,113.6 |
Scotland dominates the top three counties with most casinos per person, with North Ayrshire coming in first
It’s a 1-2-3 for Scotland in our list of UK counties with the most casinos per person, with North Ayrshire taking first place, thanks to Irvine’s two casinos. There are 14.98 casinos per million people in the county, which has a population of 133,490.
Aberdeen – 14.95 casinos per million people
Aberdeen County in the North East of Scotland comes in second place with three casinos, which amounts to 14.95 per million people. The county has a population of 224,190 and the Granite City now has a rock-solid reputation as a gambling hotspot!
Dundee – 13.48 casinos per million people
Rounding out the top three is Scotland’s fourth-largest city Dundee, which has two casinos and a population of 148,280, meaning it has 13.48 casinos per million people. Known as ‘The City of Discovery’, Dundee could be seen as the place to discover some winnings.
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| County | Population | Number of Casinos |
Casinos Per Person (per 1,000,000) |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Ayrshire | 133,490 | 2 | 14.98 |
| Aberdeen | 224,190 | 3 | 14.95 |
| Dundee | 148,280 | 2 | 13.48 |
| Bristol | 571,922 | 6 | 10.49 |
| Edinburgh | 514,990 | 5 | 10.24 |
| Hampshire | 1,860,283 | 17 | 9.14 |
| Glasgow | 612,040 | 6 | 9.8 |
| London | 8,907,918 | 54 | 6.06 |
| West Midlands | 2,916,132 | 19 | 6.51 |
| Berkshire | 950,588 | 6 | 6.31 |
| Nottinghamshire | 1,145,823 | 6 | 5.23 |
| West Glamorgan | 383,440 | 2 | 5.21 |
| Dorset | 781,401 | 4 | 5.12 |
| Merseyside | 1,423,145 | 7 | 4.92 |
| East Sussex | 823,258 | 4 | 4.86 |
| Leicestershire | 1,078,590 | 5 | 4.64 |
| Greater Manchester | 2,868,387 | 13 | 4.53 |
| South Yorkshire | 1,374,182 | 6 | 4.36 |
| South Glamorgan | 505,581 | 2 | 3.95 |
| East Riding of Yorkshire | 609,606 | 2 | 3.28 |
| Bedfordshire | 706,128 | 2 | 2.83 |
| Tyne and Wear | 1,125,695 | 3 | 2.66 |
| Suffolk | 763,375 | 2 | 2.62 |
| Lancashire | 1,531,911 | 4 | 2.61 |
| North Yorkshire | 1,157,971 | 3 | 2.59 |
| Norfolk | 918,369 | 2 | 2.18 |
| West Yorkshire | 2,349,987 | 5 | 2.13 |
| Kent | 1,858,346 | 4 | 2.15 |
| Derbyshire | 1,057,983 | 2 | 1.89 |
Methodology
We used the World Casino Directory to find out the number of casinos in each City and County of the United Kingdom. We then used data from The Geographist to find out each UK City’s population data and populationdata.org.uk to find out the population and area in square miles of each UK County.
We then divided the number of casinos by the population to find out the number of casinos per million people in each UK town/city and County, and divided the number of casinos by the number of square miles to find out the number of casinos per square mile.
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