Illegal Gambling Costs EU €91.6bn as Europol Crackdown Looms

⏱ 3 min read

Europe's unlicensed online gambling market expanded to €91.6 billion in 2025, a 14% year-on-year increase, according to new data unveiled at the European Parliament on 3 July 2026. The figures, compiled by Gambling Compliance International (GCI) and presented by the European Casino Association (ECA), confirm that illegal operators now capture the majority of online gambling revenue across the EU-27.

The tax toll is equally stark. Lost revenue to EU member states from illegal online gambling reached an estimated €22.9 billion in 2025 — money that licensed operators would have contributed through national tax frameworks. With more than 6,200 unlicensed operators actively targeting European consumers, the ECA used the parliamentary roundtable to press EU institutions for a coordinated enforcement response, timing its call to coincide with a fresh European Commission proposal to expand Europol's mandate, filed on 24 June 2026.

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The scale of Europe's illegal gambling market

The annual GCI impact study, commissioned by the ECA, has tracked the illegal market for several years. The 2025 edition recorded the sharpest single-year jump in recent memory: from €80 billion in 2024 to €91.6 billion in 2025. To put that in context, the entire legal European gambling market — covering land-based casinos, online sports betting, lottery, and poker — is worth roughly €100 billion annually across all channels.

The GCI data also found that the vast majority of online gambling content Europeans encounter promotes unlicensed platforms. Illegal operators, many headquartered outside the EU, exploit digital advertising ecosystems, affiliate networks, and search engines to reach consumers in markets where they hold no licence and pay no tax.

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European Parliament roundtable and who attended

The ECA hosted the high-level roundtable at the European Parliament in Brussels on 3 July 2026, convened by MEP Lukas Mandl. Participants gathered under the Chatham House Rule, meaning no statement is attributable to a named individual beyond what speakers chose to say on the record. Attendees included:

• Members of the European Parliament
• Representatives of the European Commission
• The Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA)
• Eurojust
• The Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group (JPSG) on Europol
• National gambling regulators from across member states
• Industry representatives from the licensed casino sector

ECA Chair Erwin van Lambaart presented the 2025 GCI figures and called for closer alignment between the Commission, Europol, and AMLA to convert enforcement data into operational action against cross-border illegal operators.

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The Europol reform proposal explained

The roundtable was strategically timed. Just ten days before the event, on 24 June 2026, the European Commission published COM(2026) 580 — a legislative package proposing significant upgrades to Europol's mandate. The package also covers Eurojust, the European Investigation Order, and data protection rules for EU institutions.

Key changes proposed for Europol include real-time cross-border information sharing via a new secure cloud infrastructure and a Police Shared Data Space, the establishment of Europol Support Offices in member states staffed by agency officers, and a technology and innovation hub providing an EU-wide picture of law enforcement capability needs.

Crucially for the gambling sector, the Commission's proposal would expand Europol's operational remit to include illegal gambling as a priority cross-border crime category. The proposal must still pass through the ordinary legislative procedure, requiring agreement from the European Parliament and the Council before taking legal effect.

MEP Mandl addressed the link directly: "Illegal online gambling is not a niche issue, it is a serious cross-border threat that touches on consumer protection, organised crime and the integrity of our internal market."

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Licensed vs. illegal operators: what separates them

The ECA's submission to the roundtable drew a binary distinction: in the EU-27, an operator is either licensed in the country it serves or it is illegal — there is no recognised grey market. The table below maps the practical differences across four compliance dimensions.

Area	Licensed Operators	Illegal Operators
Anti-money laundering	Full AML compliance; cooperate with national and EU authorities	No AML controls; open conduit for money laundering and crime financing
Consumer protection	Mandatory responsible-gambling programmes; under-18 checks enforced	Age and identity checks ignored; young and vulnerable players actively targeted
Tax contribution	Pay national gambling taxes; support local employment and development	Pay zero tax in any country they target
Regulatory oversight	Operate under a national licence with ongoing regulator scrutiny	Some impersonate licensed operators in ads to commit consumer fraud

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What this means for bettors and licensed operators

For players choosing where to bet, the compliance gap above translates into real, tangible risks. Unlicensed sites have no obligation to honour withdrawals, protect deposits, enforce self-exclusion, or respond to disputes. When things go wrong — a delayed payout, a manipulated game, an account closure — there is no regulator to complain to and no legal mechanism to pursue.

For licensed operators, the continued growth of the illegal market represents both a competitive threat and a regulatory pressure point. Markets where unlicensed operators command a large share of online play — Germany is frequently cited — see channelisation rates fall and tax revenues underperform projections, which in turn invites further regulatory tightening on the licensed sector.

The outlook pivots on whether the Europol reform proposal moves quickly through the legislative process. The Commission has set an ambitious timetable, but major EU legislation rarely moves fast. Until Europol has both the mandate and the operational tools to pursue cross-border illegal gambling networks at scale, the €91.6 billion illegal market will remain a structural feature of the European online gambling landscape rather than an anomaly being corrected.

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Sources

Primary sources are listed first. The ECA press release and European Commission proposal (COM(2026) 580) are the authoritative documents underpinning this article.

If we fail to act now, the illegal online market will continue to grow at the expense of players, public finances and legitimate businesses.

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