{"id":11240,"date":"2026-09-10T05:18:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T05:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/europe-unlicensed-online-gambling-revenue-reaches-e12-billion\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T05:18:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T05:18:53","slug":"europe-unlicensed-online-gambling-revenue-reaches-e12-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/10\/europe-unlicensed-online-gambling-revenue-reaches-e12-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe Unlicensed Online Gambling Revenue Reaches \u20ac12 Billion"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Unlicensed online gambling generated an estimated \u20ac12 billion ($13.94 billion) in net revenue across Europe in 2025, according to new research commissioned by Euromat.<\/p>\n<p>The figure equals about 25% of the European online gambling sector covered by the research and stands at roughly three times the estimated 2019 level. Regulus Partners and Helios analysed 28 markets using web traffic, digital marketing and regulatory data.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Good to Know<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The study puts 2025 unlicensed online gambling revenue at \u20ac12 billion across the markets analysed.<\/li>\n<li>Researchers studied EU countries apart from Malta and Luxembourg, plus the UK, Serbia and Montenegro.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Unlicensed is the more precise term for many operators. A casino without authorization in one European country may hold a licence elsewhere, so lack of a local licence does not automatically make the entire operator unlawful in every jurisdiction.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<h2><strong>Regulation and Player Choice Drive Channel Migration<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Euromat commissioned the research to examine why more gambling activity is taking place outside locally licensed markets.<\/p>\n<p>Helios and Regulus Partners spent more than 1,000 person hours studying traffic patterns, digital acquisition and regulatory changes. Researchers linked part of the growth to restrictions that can reduce product choice, change betting value or make licensed services harder to use.<\/p>\n<p>Filip Jelavi\u0107, Owner and Project Lead at Helios, said affordability checks, state monopolies and limited product choice can encourage some customers to use operators without a local licence.<\/p>\n<p>Crypto also plays an important role. The research found that many larger unlicensed brands use cryptocurrency to differentiate their products and reach customers across borders. Few European regulated markets offer broad crypto gambling options, according to Jelavi\u0107.<\/p>\n<p>Affiliate marketing adds another route. Smaller operators can use affiliate networks to find customers without building large direct marketing operations, while enforcement across multiple jurisdictions remains difficult.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Unlicensed Does Not Mean Unlawful Everywhere<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The terminology around the sector needs care.<\/p>\n<p>Euromat describes the segment using black market language, but European gambling licences generally operate country by country. An operator can therefore lack authorization to serve customers in one market while holding a valid gambling licence in another jurisdiction.<\/p>\n<p>For that reason, unlicensed gambling in a specific country is not automatically the same as saying a casino business itself is unlawful everywhere. The relevant question is whether an operator has permission to offer gambling to customers in the jurisdiction concerned.<\/p>\n<p>That distinction also matters when comparing market size. Studies measuring unlicensed traffic may include offshore operators with licences outside the country where the customer lives.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Player Protection and Tax Revenue Remain Central<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Euromat argues that migration away from locally licensed operators reduces tax collection and removes customers from domestic player protection systems.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers also warned that restrictions can produce the opposite result when highly engaged customers look elsewhere for gambling products.<\/p>\n<p>Licensed operators must cover local taxes, regulatory fees, compliance systems and player protection requirements. Operators serving a country without a local licence can avoid some of those costs, giving them more room to offer higher returns, bonuses or broader products.<\/p>\n<p>Jason Frost, President of Euromat, said the findings will support discussions with regulators and law enforcement.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Euromat also wants policymakers to consider channelisation when setting gambling rules. The central policy challenge is keeping players inside locally regulated systems without making licensed products unattractive enough to send customers elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/igaming.org\/casino-news\/europe-unlicensed-online-gambling-revenue-reaches-e12-billion\/\">Europe Unlicensed Online Gambling Revenue Reaches \u20ac12 Billion<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/igaming.org\/\">iGaming.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unlicensed online gambling generated an estimated \u20ac12 billion ($13.94 billion) in net revenue across Europe in 2025, according to new research commissioned by Euromat. The figure equals about 25% of the European online gambling sector covered by the research and stands at roughly three times the estimated 2019 level. Regulus Partners and Helios analysed 28 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"blocksy_meta":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casino-online-best.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}