A recent report from Gaming Compliance International (GCI) commissioned by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling has revealed that the online gambling sector within the 27 EU member states resulted in a staggering gross gambling revenue (GGR) of €91.6 billion in 2025. This marks a significant increase from the €52.6 billion recorded just two years prior, indicating a growth of 74%. The findings further highlight that an alarming 72% of this revenue is derived from unregulated gambling operators, a point that raises concerns about the integrity of the market.
The report also projects that, by 2025, approximately 121 million individuals in Europe will be affected by online gambling, with nearly 88 million of those having encountered content pertaining to unregulated gambling activities. Out of all those impacted by gambling-related content, a significant 91% have been exposed to promotions for unregulated gambling.
GCI advocates that regulatory actions should not solely target unregulated operators, as the issue extends to various supporting entities that contribute to this environment. Derek Webb, founder of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, commented on the situation, stating, "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, GCI's president and founder and former chief executive of Yield Sec, emphasized the urgency of addressing the issue, asserting, "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. You cannot optimise what you do not measure. Europe needs to see the whole marketplace – regulated and unregulated – and enforce across the ecosystem that sustains it."
