{"id":13970,"date":"2026-09-09T12:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T11:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbceurasia.com\/en\/?p=13970"},"modified":"2026-09-09T12:39:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T11:39:15","slug":"europes-illegal-online-gambling-market-has-tripled-since-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbceurasia.com\/en\/2026\/09\/09\/europes-illegal-online-gambling-market-has-tripled-since-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe\u2019s Illegal Online Gambling Market Has Tripled Since 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Europe\u2019s illegal online gambling market generated an estimated \u20ac12 billion in net revenue during 2025, according to research commissioned by <strong>Euromat,<\/strong> the trade body for Europe\u2019s land-based gaming and entertainment sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The study puts the black market at around 25% of Europe\u2019s online gambling sector and says it has tripled in size since 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Advisory firm <strong>Regulus Partners<\/strong> and web traffic consultancy <strong>Helios<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Regulatory friction named as the main driver<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Filip Jelavi\u0107,<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s clear that online gambling black markets don\u2019t happen by accident but instead are the result of government policies that create consumer friction\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jelavi\u0107 pointed to a combination of factors on the regulated side of the market: \u201cIn 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\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Crypto gambling and the licensing gap<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The researchers identified cryptocurrency gambling as a major driver of the offshore market\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe traffic analysis that we\u2019ve 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\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jelavi\u0107 said few regulated European markets currently provide a legal route for gambling with cryptocurrencies, which leaves that demand to unlicensed sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also warned that consumer protection rules can work against their own purpose:\u201d 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\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Euromat takes the findings to policymakers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Euromat President <strong>Jason Frost <\/strong>said the research would support the association\u2019s discussions with policymakers and law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe illegal black market is a major concern for everybody who recognises the importance of a progressive and fairly regulated leisure and entertainment economy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Don\u2019t forget to subscribe to our <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/sbceurasia\">Telegram channel<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Europe\u2019s illegal online gambling market generated an estimated \u20ac12 billion in net revenue during 2025, according to research commissioned by Euromat, the trade body for Europe\u2019s land-based gaming and entertainment sector. The study puts the black market at around 25% of Europe\u2019s online gambling sector and says it has tripled in size since 2019. Advisory [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":13971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,24,564],"tags":[8437,90,17129,17130,3185,8443,687,9948],"class_list":["post-13970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-regulations","category-slider","tag-euromat","tag-europe","tag-filip-jelavic-2","tag-helios","tag-illegal-market","tag-jason-frost","tag-online-gambling","tag-regulus-partners"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Europe\u2019s Illegal Online Gambling Market Has Tripled Since 2019 - SBC EURASIA EN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Europe\u2019s illegal online gambling market generated an estimated \u20ac12 billion in net revenue during 2025, according to research commissioned by Euromat.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sbceurasia.com\/en\/2026\/09\/09\/europes-illegal-online-gambling-market-has-tripled-since-2019\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Europe\u2019s Illegal Online Gambling Market Has Tripled Since 2019 - 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