Europe’s illegal online gambling market generated an estimated €12 billion in net revenue during 2025, according to research commissioned by Euromat, the trade body for Europe’s land-based gaming and entertainment sector.
The study puts the black market at around 25% of Europe’s online gambling sector and says it has tripled in size since 2019.
Advisory firm Regulus Partners and web traffic consultancy Helios carried out the analysis across 28 European markets, covering the EU excluding Malta and Luxembourg, plus the UK, Serbia and Montenegro. The researchers combined web traffic and digital marketing data with macroeconomic and regulatory analysis, drawing on more than 1,000 person-hours of forensic work.
Regulatory friction named as the main driver
Filip Jelavić, owner and project lead at Helios, said the research aimed to measure the size and characteristics of the illegal market and establish what has driven its expansion over the past six years.
“It’s clear that online gambling black markets don’t happen by accident but instead are the result of government policies that create consumer friction”.
Jelavić pointed to a combination of factors on the regulated side of the market: “In such an environment the key drivers are a combination of limited choice based on regulation and state monopolies, low visibility, distortions of price or value, as well as interventionist measures such as affordability checks”.
He added that a small number of illegal operators have reached enough scale to build recognisable brands and take meaningful market share, rather than operating as a long tail of small sites.
Crypto gambling and the licensing gap
The researchers identified cryptocurrency gambling as a major driver of the offshore market’s growth.
“The traffic analysis that we’ve undertaken shows that the rapid growth of cryptocurrencies has been key to building many of these businesses in terms of product differentiation and regulatory workarounds”.
Jelavić said few regulated European markets currently provide a legal route for gambling with cryptocurrencies, which leaves that demand to unlicensed sites.
He also warned that consumer protection rules can work against their own purpose:” Consumer protection policies are key but become counter-productive if they succeed in driving players into the black market. The more engaged and higher value customers who seek black markets out are often the most vulnerable to harm or exploitation”.
Euromat takes the findings to policymakers
Euromat President Jason Frost said the research would support the association’s discussions with policymakers and law enforcement agencies.
“The illegal black market is a major concern for everybody who recognises the importance of a progressive and fairly regulated leisure and entertainment economy”.
Frost said offshore operators hold a cost advantage over licensed competitors because they avoid gambling taxes and regulatory compliance costs. Euromat said it will use the study as the basis for a wider programme of engagement with European governments and enforcement bodies.
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