Regulate as it may, the European Union and its 27 Member States have found themselves at a severe disadvantage when comparing the legal versus the illegal gambling market.
The results are serious, as they demonstrate clearly that despite the regulatory fuss over responsible gambling, 71% of all gambling that takes place in the bloc is still carried out with offshore and unregulated black-market operators.
Europe Drowns in Illegal Gambling with Legitimate Operators Struggling to Keep Pace
This is the conclusion of a new report by Yield Sec that has analyzed the EUR 114.3 billion market in the union, estimating that 71% of the total handle, or EUR 80.6 billion, is wagered with offshore operators.
The total regulated market collects sits at about EUR 33.6 billion. Yield Sec presented a detailed breakdown of each sub-market, separated into four regions – Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe.
Eastern Europe demonstrated the worst rate of unregulated market activities – 82% of the total. Western Europe was surprisingly a close second – 72% of its gambling handle is scooped up by the illegal market, with markets such as France and Germany often criticized for their overbearing approach.
Yet places such as Italy, Spain, and Greece, representing Southern Europe, along with Portugal, Malta, and Cyprus, have imposed strict rules on gambling advertising and licensing rules, and they have arguably lost “only” half of their market share – 58% to illegal gambling, reinforcing the regulatory claim that fewer gambling ads do not necessarily empower the black market.
Thousands of Illegal Operators Consistently Target the Market, Millions Play
Yield Sec also looked into other important metrics to examine and determine established trends. The research firm concluded that 6,200 illegal gambling operators now target the 27 Member States, and about 118 million people in Europe participate in gambling, at least as of 2024.
81 million Europeans are also said to have participated in an illegal form of gambling that year. The survey was commissioned by the European Casino Association, and it clearly demonstrates the ongoing problems with the gambling market in Europe.
Despite better intentions and consistent blocking of illegal operators, the offshore market is thriving, and regulation has not exactly been able to chip away at its dominance.