Europe’s illegal online gambling market was worth an estimated €12 billion ($13.94 billion) in net revenue in 2025, triple its size in 2019 and equal to 25% of the total online gambling sector, according to a study commissioned by European gaming industry association Euromat.
The research, conducted by Regulus Partners and digital research consultancy Helios, examined 28 European online gambling markets, comprising the EU27 excluding Malta and Luxembourg, with the additions of the UK, Serbia and Montenegro.
The study involved more than 1,000 person hours of forensic analysis using digital marketing and web traffic data alongside macroeconomic and socio-political developments, including the impact of country-specific regulatory interventions.
Filip Jelavić, Owner and Project Lead at Helios, said the study’s key goal was to identify the size, growth trends, characteristics and key causes that have led to the exponential growth of the black-market ecosystem.
Jelavić said government policies could contribute to consumer migration towards illegal operators.
“It’s clear that online gambling black markets don’t happen by accident but instead are the result of government policies that create consumer friction,” he stated. “In such an environment the key drivers are a combination of limited choice based on regulation and state monopolies, low visibility, distortions of price or value, as well as interventionist measures such as affordability checks – which block or inconvenience established consumer behaviour.”
“Fundamentally, any significant movement of discretionary spend from legal into illegal markets has profound implications for governments in terms of tax revenues, for the individual in terms of player protection undertakings as well as for regulated online and land-based leisure and entertainment brands in terms of the migration of consumer spend.”
He also highlighted the role of cryptocurrencies in the expansion of illegal gambling.
“Our research has shown that the most powerful black-market operators are now large enough to have created recognisable brands with large market share. The traffic analysis that we’ve undertaken shows that the rapid growth of cryptocurrencies has been key to building many of these businesses in terms of product differentiation and regulatory workarounds,” the expert said.
“Furthermore, very few European online gambling jurisdictions have established a working solution for allowing consumers to use cryptocurrencies to gamble legally, creating both a ‘push’ from crypto consumers as well as a ‘pull’ from crypto ecosystems avoiding scrutiny. For the ‘long-tail’ of sites, affiliate businesses provide a cost-effective means of recruiting players that is very difficult to enforce against even when laws are in place.”
Jelavić warned that consumer protection policies could have unintended consequences.
“Consumer protection policies are key but become counter-productive if they succeed in driving players into the black market,” Jelavić warned. “The more engaged and higher value customers who seek black markets out are often the most vulnerable to harm or exploitation.”
Jason Frost, President of Euromat, said illegal gambling was a concern for both online and land-based markets.
“The illegal black market is a major concern for everybody who recognises the importance of a progressive and fairly regulated leisure and entertainment economy – whether it’s land-based or online,” he said in a press release.
Frost cited findings from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which show organised crime groups could use illegal gambling revenues to finance other criminal activity.
“According to insight from the UNODC, Organised Crime Groups treat illegal gambling as a ‘cash cow’, with the profits providing ready-to-use liquidity to reinvest into high-risk, high-reward criminal enterprises such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, and firearms smuggling,” Frost pointed out.
He said regulated operators faced a disadvantage because illegal businesses do not bear comparable tax and compliance costs.
Euromat’s President added: “Euromat members uphold the highest levels of integrity and play a key role in terms of delivering value-for-money entertainment to tens of millions of consumers across Europe. Unregulated black-market operators do not pay duties and taxes and, with considerably lower overheads, are able to promote better returns, driving the migration from legal markets. Furthermore, the absence of exclusion initiatives such as Gamban serves to target vulnerable players.”
Frost said the research would guide Euromat’s engagement with policymakers and law enforcement.
“The Euromat commissioned study, which is the most detailed and forensic ever undertaken into the black market, will form the backbone of our engagement programme with policymakers and law enforcement agencies across member states. We uphold the importance of supporting healthy and sensibly regulated markets in which businesses contribute to the economy, provide rewarding career and job opportunities, support local supply chains and are socially responsible.”
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2026/09/08/126272-europe-illegal-online-gambling-market-triples-to-1394-billion-euromat-study-says
