Gambling has been a global phenomenon with elements of entertainment, fun and thrill due to it being a game of luck and chance.

Punters across Asia, Europe, the US, and all around the world play casino games. Around 26% of the world’s population are gamblers which are around 1.6 billion people.

The global gambling industry has grown immensely and has proven to be one of the most vibrant industries for entertainment. It had made a business of $227 billion by 2020. Europe itself has a huge gambling market. Data collected by CasinoGap.org shows that the overall Gross Gambling Revenue of EU betting sites has reached around 24.7 billion euros in 2020 via sports betting, poker games, online lotteries, and casinos.

Top Gambling Markets In Europe

Europe will continue to grow further in the online betting and gambling market. When the UK passed legislation to legalize online gambling, European Countries like Spain, Italy, and France followed what the UK did. Proposals for legalizing online gambling were also made by Netherlands and Germany. Soon, players from all these European Countries will have access to online casinos legally. In Europe, the top gambling markets are segregated based on their Gross Gaming Revenues:

Netherlands

The gross gambling revenue was 3.1 billion euros in 2019. The Netherlands allows land-based gambling as well as lottery games and games of chance. Remote gambling is however prohibited as there lies no legal basis for the Gambling Authority to award such licenses.

However, in February 2019, a few legislative chances existed which will enter into force. Thus, the current restrictions on Online Gambling in The Netherlands will change which is a boon for Dutch punters. The government might also give foreign casinos the license to operate within the country which would majorly transform the online gambling industry.

Spain

The gross gambling revenue of Spain accounted for 8.9 billion euros in 2019. The Spanish players gamble at betting sites over 1.9 billion annually which is about 480 euros per person or 15% of the country’s net average household income. Spanish players bet on racing pools, football, lotteries, horse racing, slot machines, bingo, etc. The most popular gambling form in Spain remains the state National Lottery.

Due to the Spanish Gambling Act of 2011, the gambling tendencies and direction changed forever in the country. It legislated online sports betting markets and allowed punters to place a bet. The Spanish Gambling Act aimed at regulating online betting within the country thus allowing Spanish casino games to be legal among players within the country and the provision of games by lottery operators such as ONCE and LAE.

France

The gross gaming revenue in France was worth 12.2 billion euros in 2019. There were over 174 million French punters across France. France, compared to other European countries, is much more gambling-friendly and all types of it are legal and regulated.

The land-based casinos are allowed to provide casino games, card games, racing betting, and sportsbooks. Online providers can do all of these except casino games.

Italy

The Gross Gaming Revenue had accounted for 18.1 billion euros in 2019. Gambling activities are very popular in Italy and date back to the days of the Roman Empire. Gambling, lotteries, and betting are legal and fairly liberal compared to laws in the rest of the European countries.

The Italian gambling industry got its amount wagered of 110 billion euros in 2019 from money spent by punters on poker cash, casino games.

Germany

The Gross Gaming Revenue of 2019 was worth 14.3 billion euros and is set to reach 3.3 billion euros by 2024. In 2020, the heads of the country had a meeting and legalized online poker and casinos. Online casinos can now provide slot games, poker, and sports betting to German players.

In a survey by Goldmedia, which included 400 existing German punters, 12% of respondents mentioned that they gamble daily, 32% of them play online slots weekly. The same report found out that 65% of gamblers use their mobile devices for playing slots online.

Conclusion

The European gambling market is projected to grow up to a CAGR of 9.20% during the forecast period of 2020-2025. The rising popularity of gambling start-ups and hardware innovations in Europe are expected to drive the growth of the Online European gambling market. The dominant punters have been focusing on mergers in recent years for increasing their stake in the market and improving profit margins.

For example, Betfair PLC and Paddy Power PLC have merged to form Paddy Power Betfair PLC. For gaining a competitive advantage and competing against experienced punters, companies are developing innovative offerings in Europe. One of the leading casino companies in the UK, 888 Holdings had signed up a new gaming partnership with a Microgaming software provider in 2019 for the same reason.