The size of the illegal gambling market in the EU has grown to a record high
According to a report by the European Casino Association (ECA), the gray market for gambling grew by 14% in 2025 and exceeded 91.6 billion euros. Due to illegal gambling, EU governments lost out on 22.9 billion euros in revenue.
ECA President Erwin van Lambart emphasized that this rapidly growing cross-border phenomenon threatens the safety of users, especially young people, and undermines trust in the legal sector.
According to official forecasts by the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) and H2 Gambling Capital, the total turnover of the legal gambling market in Europe was projected to reach €127.7 billion by 2025.
- Currently, more than 6,200 illegal websites are targeting European players. To combat illegal gambling in the EU, the following steps are being taken:
- At the end of 2025, regulators from the seven largest markets (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Portugal, and the United Kingdom) signed a coordination agreement,
- digital platforms are required to use EU-wide rules to block illegal content,
- the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), at the request of the European Commission, is implementing voluntary, uniform reporting standards for the supervision of online gaming.
This is stated in a report by the European Casino Association.
As a reminder, Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs uncovered a network of illegal gambling on the 1xBet platform.
Only 2% of Ukrainians have gambled in the past month, according to a study.
The Cabinet of Ministers is preparing to automatically block all military personnel from accessing gambling sites.
