About this app
How to play Sweetopia Royale
During a global pandemic, it might have been assumed that poker would go the way of live music festivals, with the much-photographed mass gatherings of poker tournaments being such a draw to new and aspirational poker players.
Poker, however, has shown its hand during the current COVID-19 crisis and it’s a pairing of resilience and poker, hole cards showing strength and character. Online poker has thrived, poker has pivoted to accommodate those new players and the industry has more than survived.
Perhaps the hand that poker itself has shown is pocket kings, but every cowboy has to ride into the sunset one day and that day has arrived for the Poker page on the CalvinAyre.com website.
How to play Sweetopia Royale
In March, William Hill told staff it plans to permanently close approximately 200 of its retail shops in the UK, around 15% of Evoke’s retail estate.
Last month, meanwhile, Betfred announced plans to shutter 132 of its UK betting shops, reducing its workforce by over 600 employees.
Betfred CEO Jo Whittaker said: “We have tried hard to protect all our sites and the colleagues who work in them, but the combined impact of higher employer National Insurance contributions, wage inflation, increases in gambling taxes and wider economic uncertainty has left us with no choice.”
About Sweetopia Royale
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.
This digital expansion coincided with a continued shrinkage in physical retail. Great Britain had 8,081 licensed premises at the end of the period, down 2% year-on-year.
