Unregulated Gambling Now Takes 72% of Europe’s Online Market

Unregulated gambling accounted for an estimated 72% of online gambling revenue generated across the European Union in 2025, according to a new report from Gaming Compliance International (GCI). The research, commissioned by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, estimates that unregulated operators generated €91.6 billion in gross gambling revenue from consumers across the bloc, compared with a total online market worth approximately €128 billion.

The figure represents a substantial increase from GCI's previous estimate for 2023, when unregulated operators were estimated to have generated €52.6 billion. According to the report, that represents a 74% increase in unregulated gross gambling revenue over the two-year period, while the unregulated share of total online gambling revenue increased from 67% to 72%.

€22 Billion in Potential Tax Revenue

The scale of the unregulated market could also have significant implications for European governments. GCI estimates that approximately €22 billion in gambling-related tax revenue was associated with unregulated activity during 2025, while its research identified 6,238 unregulated online gambling operators and 17,501 affiliates actively targeting consumers across the EU's 27 member states.

GCI's methodology focuses on operators that actively target and transact with consumers in jurisdictions where they do not hold the required local licence. The report therefore distinguishes between websites that may technically be accessible from a particular country and operators that are actively accepting customers from that market.

The findings come against a fragmented European regulatory landscape in which gambling remains primarily regulated at the national level. Operators looking to serve consumers across multiple EU countries can therefore face different licensing, advertising, taxation and compliance requirements depending on the jurisdiction.

Unregulated Operators Dominate Consumer Exposure

The report also examined how consumers are exposed to gambling brands online, finding that the influence of the unregulated sector extends well beyond individual casino and sportsbook websites. GCI estimates that 121 million Europeans encountered online gambling content during 2025, with 88 million of those consumers accessing content connected to unregulated operators.

Among consumers actively interacting with online gambling content, GCI estimates that 91% of the gambling content they encountered promoted unregulated operators. The report attributes this exposure to a broad acquisition ecosystem that includes affiliates, social media, advertising, search engines, mobile applications, payment infrastructure, peer-to-peer communications and illegal sports streaming.

According to GCI, unregulated gambling advertising was identified across all 27 EU jurisdictions. The consultancy also highlighted so-called "cloaked advertising," which it describes as advertising designed to evade platform controls and moderation systems, allowing operators to continue reaching audiences despite restrictions on gambling promotion.

Illegal Sports Streams Become Another Acquisition Channel

Illegal sports streaming was another area highlighted by the research, with GCI estimating that 95% of qualifying illegal sports streams viewed in Europe during the FIFA World Cup contained advertising for gambling operators that were not licensed in the relevant jurisdictions. The finding illustrates how unregulated operators can reach consumers through third-party digital environments rather than relying exclusively on their own websites or conventional affiliate networks.

The growing role of streaming and social platforms has created an additional enforcement challenge for regulators, as gambling advertising can appear within ecosystems that operate across national borders. GCI argues that this makes it increasingly difficult to address unregulated gambling simply by blocking individual domains or taking action against individual operators.

GCI Calls for Wider Enforcement

GCI argues that European regulators need to move toward a broader enforcement model focused on the infrastructure supporting unregulated gambling rather than treating each operator as an isolated problem. The report calls for greater coordination across borders and increased scrutiny of the platforms, advertising networks, affiliates and payment systems that allow unregulated operators to acquire customers and maintain access to European consumers.

Derek Webb, founder of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, said the issue is fundamentally one of enforcement rather than a need to loosen regulatory requirements for licensed operators. He argued that an operator holding a licence in one jurisdiction should not automatically be considered authorised to accept customers in another European market where it does not hold the required local licence.

GCI president Ismail Vali similarly argued that the concentration of unregulated gambling activity across common acquisition and distribution infrastructure could provide regulators with a point of leverage. Rather than treating thousands of operators as entirely separate enforcement targets, he said regulators could focus on the shared ecosystem used to advertise gambling products, acquire consumers, process transactions and keep operators online.

A Growing Divide Between Regulated and Unregulated Markets

The findings add to an ongoing debate over the scale of Europe's unregulated gambling market and the effectiveness of national regulatory systems in controlling cross-border online activity. While the precise size of the market depends heavily on methodology and how unregulated gambling is defined, GCI's estimate points to a substantial gap between the regulated market envisioned by national frameworks and the online gambling activity actually reaching European consumers.

For regulators, the challenge increasingly extends beyond identifying unlicensed operators themselves. The report suggests that search engines, social platforms, affiliates, streaming services, advertising networks and payment infrastructure have all become part of the wider system through which gambling brands reach consumers, creating a regulatory problem that is inherently more difficult to contain within individual national borders.