EU Illegal Gambling Market Hits €91.6bn, Costing States €22.9bn in Tax

⏳ 3 min read

The EU illegal gambling market expanded to €91.6 billion in 2025, a 14% year-on-year increase from roughly €80 billion in 2024, according to an annual study commissioned by the European Casino Association (ECA) and conducted by Gambling Compliance International (GCI). More than 6,200 unlicensed operators are now actively targeting European consumers — and illegal sites generate the majority of all online gambling revenue across the EU-27.

The tax cost is equally stark: EU member states lost an estimated €22.9 billion in tax revenue in 2025 alone due to unlicensed operators diverting wagers away from regulated channels. Those figures were presented at a high-level roundtable hosted in the European Parliament on 3 July 2026 by MEP Lukas Mandl, drawing in the European Commission, the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), Eurojust, the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group on Europol, and national gambling regulators from across the bloc.

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Scale of the Black Market

The GCI annual study — the most comprehensive of its kind covering the EU — found that 71% of online gambling content encountered by European users promotes unlicensed operators. The market's €91.6 billion total dwarfs the regulated sector and represents a problem that has outpaced national enforcement capabilities in almost every member state.

ECA Chair Erwin van Lambaart, who also serves as CEO of Casinos Austria and Austrian Lotteries, warned that national authorities are struggling to keep pace with operators that routinely target consumers across multiple European jurisdictions simultaneously. The cross-border nature of the illegal market makes it structurally resistant to single-country enforcement — a key argument underpinning the ECA's call for EU-level action.

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What Unlicensed Operators Avoid

The competitive advantage of illegal operators is straightforward: they sidestep every cost that licensed operators must absorb. That includes:

• Tax obligations in the member states where they acquire customers
• Anti-money laundering (AML) compliance and transaction monitoring
• Age verification and know-your-customer (KYC) checks
• Responsible gambling tools — deposit limits, self-exclusion, cooling-off periods
• Technical and security standards mandated by national regulators

The result is a structural cost asymmetry. Licensed operators carry the full compliance burden; illegal sites absorb none of it and can redirect those savings into higher returns and more aggressive marketing. MEP Mandl described illegal online gambling as "not a niche issue — it is a serious cross-border threat to consumer protection."

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The Push to Expand Europol's Mandate

The ECA's central ask at the 3 July 2026 Parliament roundtable was clear: illegal online gambling must be written into the expanded operational remit being drafted for Europol. The European Commission has separately proposed reforms to give Europol a more operational cross-border crime-fighting role, and the association wants gambling enforcement included explicitly — not left as an implied priority.

Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen identified the Digital Services Act (DSA) as a parallel enforcement lever — specifically its provisions allowing member states to order the removal of illegal content and services from major platforms and app stores.

Participants also called for stronger financial intelligence cooperation, arguing that cutting off payment processing to unlicensed operators would be more durable than domain blocking alone. Anders Dorph, Director of the Danish Gambling Authority, and representatives from the Dutch Gambling Authority reinforced the case for coordinated multi-regulator action rather than fragmented national responses.

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Licensed vs. Illegal Market: Key Metrics

Metric	Licensed Operators	Illegal Operators
Share of EU-27 online gambling revenue	Minority	Majority
Tax contribution to member states (2025)	Full rate per jurisdiction	Zero
AML / KYC compliance	Mandatory	None
Age verification	Mandatory	Typically absent
Responsible gambling tools	Mandatory	Typically absent
Active operators targeting EU consumers	Licensed per jurisdiction	6,200+
Market size (2025)	Not separately published	€91.6 billion

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What This Means for Operators and Bettors

For licensed operators, the data confirms a competitive landscape structurally tilted against them. A regulated casino or sportsbook faces tax rates, compliance costs, and product restrictions that an unlicensed rival simply ignores. The ECA's push for Europol enforcement and DSA-based payment blocking is an effort to level that playing field — and one with growing political support inside the European Parliament.

For bettors, the picture is more immediate. Players on unlicensed platforms have no recourse if a dispute arises, no guaranteed segregation of funds, and no access to national self-exclusion registers. The GCI finding that 71% of gambling content encountered by EU consumers promotes illegal sites suggests the majority of casual bettors may be exposed to these risks without realising it.

The next concrete legislative moment will be whether illegal online gambling secures a named priority in the revised Europol mandate — a decision expected in the coming months as the Commission's reform proposals work through the Parliament and Council.

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Sources

Primary source first, followed by trade and specialist press used to cross-check figures and quotes.

Illegal online gambling is a fast-growing, cross-border problem that puts players, especially young adults, at high risk.

— Erwin van Lambaart, Chair, European Casino Association · EU Parliament Roundtable, 3 July 2026