CFG : EUROPE'S €91.6 BILLION UNREGULATED GAMBLING ECONOMY
EU27 enforcement gap leaves 72% of online gambling revenue (GGR) outside the local regulatory perimeter.
BRUSSELS, Sept. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- New EU 27 analysis finds 72% of online gambling revenue is unregulated — while 91% of the content encountered by consumers actively interacting with gambling promotes the unregulated sector.
The new report, Online Gambling 2024–2025: EU 27 Europe, produced by Gaming Compliance International (GCI) for the Campaign for Fairer Gambling (CFG), finds that unregulated online GGR rose from €52.6 billion in 2023 to €91.6 billion in 2025 — an increase of 74% in two years.
In 2025, unregulated online gambling operators generated an estimated €91.6 billion GGR from EU 27 consumers — 72% of Europe's €128.0 billion online gambling marketplace. That activity took place outside the local regulatory perimeter, with attendant risks for consumer protection, taxation, licensing and regulatory oversight.
The Enforcement Gap Begins Before the Bet
The €91.6 billion shows the scale of activity outside the regulatory perimeter. The bigger warning is what happens before the money changes hands.
In 2025, 121 million Europeans were reached by online gambling content, 88 million were reached by content from unregulated operators. Among consumers actively interacting with online gambling, 91% of the content they encountered promoted the unregulated sector.
The report identifies an ecosystem extending far beyond gambling websites: affiliates, social media, advertising, search, apps, payments, P2P communications and illegal streaming all help operators find audiences, convert customers and monetize them.
One Marketplace, Two Sectors, An Interconnected Ecosystem
Unregulated gambling operates through interconnected infrastructure. Websites can change. Domains can move. Audiences can be redirected. Payments, advertising, affiliates, apps, social media and streaming provide the commercial infrastructure that allows the business to continue.
Crime operates across the total marketplace. Intelligence and enforcement must too.
Leadership Commentary:
Derek Webb, Founder of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, said:
"Europe has an enforcement failure occurring in plain sight. €91.6 billion 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 (GCI), and founder and former CEO of Yield Sec, said:
"The €91.6 billion measures the scale of gambling taking place outside the local regulatory perimeter in 2025. Unregulated online operators, and their affiliate and influencer marketing supply chains, were behind 91% of the online content encountered by audiences interested in online gambling in 2025 — a warning of the scale of unregulated activity Europe could face next.
"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.
"Six thousand unregulated operators are not six thousand separate problems. They rely on the same ecosystem to advertise, find consumers, distribute products, move money, and stay online. That is also their vulnerability.
"You cannot optimize what you do not measure. Europe needs to see the whole marketplace — regulated and unregulated — and enforce across the ecosystem that sustains it."
About The Campaign for Fairer Gambling (CFG):
For more information: FairerGambling.com | [email protected]
About Gaming Compliance International (GCI):
For more information, visit gamingcompliance.com
Info: [email protected]
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