GCI Estimates €91.6bn EU Online Gambling Revenue

A new report from Gaming Compliance International (GCI), commissioned by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, estimates that online gambling generated €91.6 billion in revenue from consumers across the 27 EU member states in 2025.

The figure represents a 74% increase compared with the €52.6 billion recorded two years earlier, in 2023.

According to the report, 72% of the gambling market covered by its assessment was attributed to unregulated operators.

The study also estimates that 121 million people were reached by online gambling in Europe during 2025. Of this total, around 88 million were exposed to content associated with unregulated gambling.

GCI further states that 91% of people exposed to gambling-related content encountered material promoting the unregulated gambling sector.

The organisation argues that enforcement should extend beyond unregulated operators themselves, pointing to the wider structures and services that support their ability to reach consumers.

Derek Webb, founder of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, said:

“Europe has an enforcement failure occurring in plain sight. €91.6bn in online gambling revenue was generated outside the local regulatory perimeter in 2025. That scale should focus attention on enforcement – on operators evading local rules and the infrastructure that enables them to reach European consumers. The answer is not weaker regulation or tax concessions for licensed operators. Europe has an enforcement problem. Unregulated gambling operates across borders, platforms and infrastructure while enforcement remains overwhelmingly national. A licence ‘from somewhere’ is not permission to operate everywhere.”

Ismail Vali, president of Gaming Compliance International and founder and former chief executive of Yield Sec, said the issue also extends to how consumers encounter gambling content before reaching an operator.

“By the time the bet is placed, the battle for the customer may already have been lost. Unregulated gambling is winning audience attention before the consumer ever reaches a gambling site.”

Vali added:

“You cannot optimise what you do not measure. Europe needs to see the whole marketplace – regulated and unregulated – and enforce across the ecosystem that sustains it.”