What counts as UK spread betting

A spread bet is a bet on how far a price ends up above or below a range quoted by the firm, with the stake multiplied by the move. Three products get mixed up in "spread betting market" figures, and the filings below rarely separate them.

The FCA's 2019 rules say that "references to CFDs include financial spread bets and rolling spot forex products", which is why the firms' figures for the two are nearly always reported together. Sources: FCA press release, gov.uk, General Betting Duty.

Who sells spread bets in the UK

Every firm below is authorised by the FCA. We checked each firm's own UK pages on 12 November 2026 and recorded whether they show spread betting or only CFDs. In total 11 of the 19 firms we checked showed spread bets to UK retail clients. The FCA register has no filter for "spread betting permission" that we could read, so this is a survey of the firms we looked at, not a complete list of the market.

Tickmill UK and Vantage are not in the table because their product pages did not load when we checked. Markets.com's operating company says on its own site that it no longer offers services to retail clients. "CFDs only shown" means the firm's UK page and risk warning mention only CFDs. FCA numbers link to each firm's entry on the FCA register.

How big is it? What the providers report

No regulator publishes the size of the UK spread betting market. The FCA's last market-wide estimate we found is from 2018: UK-firm retail clients trading CFDs lost about £1.2bn in 2014/15 (consultation paper CP18/38). Since then the only way to size it is firm by firm, and firms report spread bets, CFDs, share dealing and more in one number. Here is what the filings do show.

Show the numbers

Provider	Measure	Period	£m
IG, UK and Ireland	OTC derivatives net trading revenue (spread bets and CFDs)	Year to 31 May 2025	270.5
CMC Markets, UK	Net operating income by location, includes UK stockbroking	Year to 31 Mar 2026	133.4
Spreadex group	Turnover, all attributed to the UK	Year to 31 May 2025	104.6
Sporting Index Limited	Turnover, already inside the Spreadex group	Year to 31 May 2025	14.3

Source: IG Group FY25 results; CMC Markets FY26 annual report; Spreadex Limited filings; Sporting Index Limited filings.

Over time the three UK businesses with comparable accounts have moved apart. IG Index Limited's net trading revenue went from £262.5m in FY22 to £228.3m in FY25 (−13%). The Spreadex group's turnover went from £71.2m to £104.6m (+47%), partly because it bought Sporting Index. CMC Markets' UK net operating income grew from £92.3m in FY24 to £133.4m in FY26 (+45%).

• IG Index Limited, net trading revenue
• Spreadex group, turnover
• CMC Markets, UK net operating income

Show the numbers

Year	IG Index Ltd, £m	Spreadex group, £m	CMC UK, £m
FY22	262.5	71.2	–
FY23	236.5	88.8	–
FY24	211.7	103.3	92.3
FY25	228.3	104.6	103.8
FY26	–	–	133.4

Source: IG Index Limited filings; Spreadex Limited filings; CMC Markets FY26 annual report.

• IG Index Limited
• Spreadex group

Show the numbers

Year to 31 May	IG Index Ltd, £m	Spreadex group, £m
FY22	143.2	27.7
FY23	127.2	35.3
FY24	102.3	42.2
FY25	125.0	43.2

Source: IG Index Limited filings; Spreadex Limited filings.

City Index (StoneX) does not report its UK revenue, clients or client money separately, so it is not on these charts. Plus500, a CFD provider, reported UK revenue of $51.3m in 2025 against $100.4m in 2022 (Plus500 annual reports).

Client outcomes: most retail accounts lose money

Since September 2019 every firm must tell prospective customers what percentage of its retail accounts lose money. An account counts as losing if its realised and unrealised net profit over the previous 12 months is below zero. The figures are about accounts, not people, and say nothing about how large the losses are.

• Warning names spread bets and CFDs
• Warning names CFDs only

Show the numbers

Firm	Accounts losing money	Wording covers
eToro	55%	CFDs
Interactive Brokers UK	58.9%	CFDs
Saxo	61%	CFDs
Spreadex	64%	spread bets and CFDs
ThinkMarkets	64.65%	CFDs
City Index (StoneX)	68%	CFDs
CMC Markets	69%	spread bets and CFDs
Capital.com	69%	spread bets and CFDs
IG	70%	spread bets and CFDs
Admirals	73%	CFDs
Pepperstone	73.6%	spread bets and CFDs
Trade Nation	73.8%	CFDs
FOREX.com UK	74%	CFDs
Trading 212	75%	CFDs
FxPro	75%	spread bets and CFDs
Plus500	76%	CFDs
OANDA	76.6%	CFDs
XTB	78%	CFDs

Source: each firm's own page, linked in the table. The FCA requires the figure to be recalculated every three months over the preceding 12 months; no page prints the calculation date.

The FCA has measured the same thing before. In a 2015 review of eight firms it found more than 80% of client accounts lost money over a year, with an average loss of £2,200 per account. For August to October 2017 it counted £268.4m of retail losses at UK firms, a projected £1.07bn a year. The EU-wide leverage limits that started in August 2018 cut losses of UK firms' clients by £77.3m over the following three months, a projected £309.1m a year (FCA CP18/38). The FCA estimated its 2019 permanent rules would save retail consumers between £267m and £451m a year; that is a forecast, and we found no FCA evaluation of what they actually saved.

Show the numbers

When	Share losing money	Basis
2015	over 80%	FCA review of 8 firms: client accounts over a year; average loss £2,200 per account
2017	78%	Firms' standardised warnings, weighted across 7 firms
2022	about 80%	FCA press release of 1 December 2022
12 Nov 2026	71.5%	Median of 18 firms' pages (our calculation)

Source: FCA CP16/40; FCA CP18/38; FCA press release, 1 Dec 2022.

Sports spread bets are outside these rules, so Sporting Index shows no losing-accounts percentage. Spreadex's pages show two figures, 61% on its landing page and 64% on its footer and financial pages; we used 64%.

Sports spread betting: a market of two

Sports spread betting lets a customer bet on how far a sporting outcome (total goals, runs, a driver's points) lands above or below the bookmaker's quoted range. According to the CMA, two firms are the only suppliers of licensed online sports spread betting in the UK, and both are in the Gambling Commission's public register. That is two of the 127 companies holding an active remote general betting licence in our copy of the register.

The register lists the fixed-odds side of each business. The spread-bet ledger itself is regulated by the FCA, see the rules.

Show the numbers

Company	Year to	Revenue	Profit before tax	Average employees	Dividends paid
Spreadex group	31 May 2025	£104.6m	£43.2m	202	£25.5m
Sporting Index	31 May 2025	£14.3m	£7.6m	8	£5.7m

Source: Spreadex accounts; Sporting Index accounts.

• Turnover
• Profit or loss before tax

Show the numbers

Period	Turnover, £m	Profit or loss before tax, £m
Year to 31 Dec 2022	9.8	-8.2
17 months to 31 May 2024	18.5	-17.2
Year to 31 May 2025	14.3	7.6

Source: Sporting Index accounts; Sporting Index Limited filings.

The rules: two regulators, one product

The Gambling Act 2005 excludes a bet from "betting" when making or accepting it is a regulated activity under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Spread bets are, so the FCA regulates them. The Gambling Commission's own memorandum with the FCA says it regulates all gambling in Great Britain "apart from spread betting". Sporting Index describes the split itself: sports spread betting is regulated by the FCA, fixed odds by the Gambling Commission.

In practice the FCA treats financial spread bets, CFDs and rolling spot forex as one group of products. Its 2019 rules, in force since 1 August 2019, apply to all of them. They do not apply to sports spread bets: the FCA says its rules cover "MiFID financial instruments", and excludes sports spread bets from them (PS19/18 paragraph 2.7). The rules:

• Leverage limits between 30:1 and 5:1 today, set by the underlying asset (chart below).
• Close-out at 50%. A firm must close a retail client's positions when net equity falls below 50% of the margin requirement.
• Negative balance protection. A retail client's liability is limited to the funds in the account.
• No sign-up bonuses or rebates to encourage trading.
• A standard risk warning with the share of the firm's retail accounts that lose money, recalculated every three months.

Show the numbers

Underlying asset	Minimum margin	Maximum leverage
Major currency pairs, government bonds	3.33%	30:1
Major stock indices, minor pairs, gold	5%	20:1
Minor indices, other commodities	10%	10:1
Individual shares and other assets	20%	5:1

Source: FCA Handbook COBS 22.5.11R; FCA PS19/18.

Timeline

1. 2 April 2019Binary options banned for retail clients

   All firms acting in or from the UK may no longer sell, market or distribute binary options to retail consumers. The FCA estimated the ban could save retail consumers up to £17m a year.

   Source: FCA statement.

2. 1 August 2019Permanent leverage limits, 50% close-out, negative balance protection, bonus ban

   PS19/18 makes the EU-wide temporary measures permanent. The FCA says its references to CFDs include financial spread bets. It expected retail consumers to save between £267m and £451m a year.

   Source: FCA PS19/18.

3. 1 September 2019Standard risk warning with the share of losing accounts

   Providers must tell customers what percentage of their retail client accounts lose money, recalculated every three months over the previous 12 months.

   Source: FCA Handbook COBS 22.5.

4. 6 November 2023Spreadex buys Sporting Index

   Spreadex acquires the consumer business of Sporting Index from a subsidiary of La Française des Jeux. The CMA later finds the deal left one supplier of online sports spread betting in the UK.

   Source: CMA undertakings notice.

5. 17 May 2024FCA charges nine finfluencers

   The first UK finfluencer prosecutions, including alleged unauthorised advice on contracts for difference through an Instagram account.

   Source: FCA bulletin.

6. 19 September 2025CMA orders Spreadex to sell Sporting Index

   After a first decision was quashed and remitted, the CMA's final report again finds the merger removed competition and requires a divestiture. Undertakings were accepted on 3 October 2025.

   Source: CMA press release.

7. 13 November 2025FCA review of CFD providers' fair value

   The FCA flags overnight funding charged separately on matched long and short positions, and varying funding charges without clear justification. Its follow-up of 15 October 2026 says only 12% of 81 firms had changed any charges.

   Source: FCA press release.

8. 5 June 2026Court of Appeal refuses Spreadex permission to appeal

   The Competition Appeal Tribunal had dismissed all grounds on 19 March 2026. The divestiture period only starts once the legal challenges end. As of the CMA case page last updated on 12 June 2026, no buyer had been announced.

   Source: CMA case page.

Tax: who pays what

"Not normally taxable" is HMRC's position on the typical punter. It is not tax advice, and it does not describe CFD gains, which are treated differently.

Show the numbers

Financial year	Receipts, £m
2022-23	631
2023-24	654
2024-25	714
2025-26	685

Source: HMRC, UK Betting and Gaming Statistics commentary.

What we could not find

A market report should say where the data stops.

• No official market size. No regulator publishes current UK revenue, client numbers or client money for spread betting. The FCA's last market-wide numbers we found are from 2017 and 2018, and cover CFDs and financial spread bets together.
• Spread bets are never reported alone. IG, CMC and StoneX report them with CFDs, share dealing and more. Spreadex does not split financial from sports spread betting or fixed odds, and neither Spreadex nor Sporting Index discloses client numbers.
• City Index. StoneX does not report City Index's UK revenue, clients or client money. Its UK brand moved to StoneX Trading in September 2026, according to trade press.
• Tax receipts. HMRC publishes General Betting Duty as one number. Spread bets are inside it and cannot be separated.
• Sporting Index's buyer. The CMA's case page, last updated on 12 June 2026, names no approved purchaser.
• Whether the 2019 rules worked. The FCA's annual impact reports restate the 2019 cost-benefit estimate (£442m of annualised benefit in the year to March 2025). That is a model, not an observed outcome.
• Sports versus financial. The CMA found sports spread betting a separate market from financial spread betting. Nothing public splits any firm's results that way.

How we built this report

1. Registers. Licences and sites for Spreadex and Sporting Index come from the Gambling Commission's business licence register, which we read every day. Regulated firms and their numbers come from the FCA register.
2. Filings. Company figures come from accounts filed at Companies House and from the listed groups' published results. Large companies often file scanned PDFs, which we convert to text and check against the document.
3. Rules and tax. Quoted from the FCA Handbook and policy statements, HMRC guidance and manuals, the CMA's case page and gov.uk.
4. Firm pages. Each firm's page was read on 12 November 2026 from a UK location. Pages change, so these figures are a snapshot.

Contains public sector information from the Gambling Commission, the FCA, HMRC, the CMA and Companies House, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Company figures are quoted from the filings linked beside each chart; where a filing is a scan, we read it with optical character recognition and checked it against the document.