Report Puts Unregulated Share of EU Online Gambling Market at 72%

^{Illustrative image of European city office buildings at night. A new report estimates unregulated operators now dominate the EU's online gambling marketplace. (Photo: Steven Lek / Wikimedia Commons)}

Gaming Compliance International (GCI) has published a report for the Campaign for Fairer Gambling estimating that unregulated online gambling operators generated €91.6 billion in gross gambling revenue across the EU's 27 member states in 2025, or 72% of the entire online gambling marketplace.

The report, titled 'Online Gambling 2024-2025: EU 27 Europe' and released in September 2026, puts the total EU 27 online gambling market at €128 billion for 2025, with regulated operators accounting for just €36.5 billion of that figure. GCI estimates the unregulated share has grown 74% in two years, from €52.6 billion in 2023.

Tax Losses and 'Audience Exposure'

Applying an average GGR tax rate of 24% across the bloc, the report calculates EU governments lost €22 billion in tax revenue to unregulated operators in 2025 alone. It also introduces a metric it calls Audience Exposure, tracking how much of the online gambling content consumers actively encounter comes from licensed versus unlicensed sources.

On that measure, GCI estimates 91% of the online gambling content EU consumers engaged with in 2025 originated from unregulated operators, a figure the report says shows the problem is not just revenue leakage but who is recruiting tomorrow's customers. The report also flags unregulated gambling advertising appearing on more than 80% of illegal sports-streaming content monitored across the EU 27 in 2024 and 2025.

A Contested Number

GCI's 72% figure sits well above other recent estimates of Europe's illegal betting market. A Regulus Partners and Helios study commissioned by trade body Euromat this month put the illegal share at around 25%, or €12 billion, while H2 Gambling Capital has estimated roughly 27%, or €18 billion. National regulators' own figures are lower still: Germany's regulator estimated €547 million in unlicensed revenue for 2024, and the Dutch regulator put its first-half 2025 figure at €617 million.

GCI says the gap largely comes down to methodology. The firm converts web traffic and audience-engagement data into revenue estimates using what it calls a 'value per visit' benchmark, and its report notes that its own total marketplace figure of €128 billion for the EU 27 does not include the UK, unlike some rival estimates.

'We are putting a quantified value on the total marketplace, using the same methodology across regulated and unregulated activity... What we are looking to do is to get to this point: you are all being stolen from.'

The report's underlying argument is that enforcement needs to target the broader commercial infrastructure that keeps unregulated gambling running, including affiliates, advertising platforms, payment processors, app stores and search engines, rather than individual illegal websites. It also points to transnational licensing arrangements, where an operator's licence in one jurisdiction can still leave it unlicensed in the EU markets from which it earns revenue.

The findings land as national gambling trade bodies across the bloc continue to press governments for stronger enforcement against unlicensed sites, an issue that has also surfaced in disputes such as the Dutch trade body VNLOK's court action against Meta over illegal gambling ads. It follows other reports over the past year highlighting black market pressure on regulated gambling markets globally.