British gamblers lost a record £12.6bn last year as bookmakers took more money than ever from fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs).

Figures released by the Gambling Commission, which regulates bookmakers, casinos, online betting and lotteries, show gamblers’ losses have risen every year since April 2011.

The latest annual increase, from £11.2bn to £12.6bn in the year to the end of September 2015, was partly fuelled by the inclusion for the first time of a full year of statistics for online gamblers, who lost a combined £3.6bn.

The huge outlay on web-based casino games, sports betting and bingo was even bigger than the amount spent on the National Lottery, which reached £3.3bn.

While online betting accounts for a third of the total losses, a record £1.7bn was gambled away on FOBTs, which allow customers to stake £100 every 20 seconds on electronic versions of casino games such as roulette.

Bookmakers managed to rake in more than ever from the machines despite a slight decrease in their number from 35,067 to 34,809.

That means that each machine, of which a maximum of four are allowed in every betting shop, took an average £48,724 from gamblers last year.

Campaigners have called on politicians to reduce the maximum amount that can be staked on FOBTs from £100 to just £2 in an effort to limit the amount that problem gamblers can lose on them.

FOBTs have been called the “crack cocaine” of gambling due to their allegedly addictive nature and have been blamed for fuelling social problems linked to gambling.

This year Paddy Power made a a £280,000 “voluntary payment” after the Gambling Commission found it had encouraged a problem gambler to keep betting until he lost five jobs, his home and access to his children.

The man was a frequent user of FOBTs and was allowed to keep playing them despite concerns raised by betting shop employees with senior staff.

The total number of betting shops in the UK declined by 166 to 8,809, but the number of staff working in them increased by 1,166 to 52,566, just under half of the total 108,063 employed in the gambling industry.

The commission said gambling firms contributed £1.7bn to good causes over the year, a 2.1% increase on their contribution in the year to the end of March 2015.