Illegal gambling operators control 71% of the online betting and casino market in the European Union. Their revenues have reached €80.65 billion ($94.4 billion), while regulators struggle to curb the activities of cryptocurrency casinos and illicit betting platforms.
According to data from Yield Sec, cited by Bloomberg, gross revenue from the illegal sector has grown by 53% since 2023. Yield Sec, a data analytics company specializing in monitoring online markets, defines illegal platforms as those operating without a license in the jurisdictions they target or where they provide services.
The expansion of unlicensed platforms in the EU has outpaced the growth of the legal industry: revenues in the regulated sector increased by only 30%, reaching €33.64 billion ($39.4 billion).
Overall, the market grew by 46% year-on-year, reaching €114.3 billion ($133.7 billion).
In recent years, European authorities have tightened regulations in an effort to reduce the negative impact of gambling, introducing restrictions on advertising, bonuses, and product design. However, Yield Sec notes that these measures have created opportunities for unlicensed operators to lure customers with tax-free offers, simplified sign-ups, and free illegal streaming of sports events.
“Crime will continue to thrive in the absence of monitoring, policing, enforcement and optimization,” Yield Sec founder Ismail Vali told Bloomberg. “Legal operators need to learn to work together.”
The rise of the illegal gambling sector has also been driven by a rich sporting calendar. The Paris Olympics and the Euro 2024 football championship pushed fans toward betting sites.
Another factor was the growing cost of sports subscriptions, which boosted demand for pirated streams — a channel increasingly exploited by unlicensed gambling operators to attract new users.
According to the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), total gross online gambling revenue in Europe (27 EU countries and the UK) is estimated at €47.9 billion ($56.1 billion) by 2024. This figure includes online lotteries, which Yield Sec does not count in its data.
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