Illegal Gambling Costs EU States €22.9bn in Lost Tax Revenue

⏱ 3 min read

The European Casino Association (ECA) has put a precise price tag on Europe's illegal gambling crisis: €22.9 billion in lost tax revenue in 2025 alone, drained from EU member state treasuries by unlicensed operators. The figure was presented on 3 July 2026 at a high-level European Parliament roundtable hosted by MEP Lukas Mandl, bringing together the European Commission, the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), Eurojust, and national gambling regulators.

The underlying illegal market is larger still. Research commissioned by the ECA from Gambling Compliance International (GCI) estimates the unlicensed online gambling market targeting EU consumers reached €91.6 billion in gross gaming revenue in 2025 — up from roughly €80 billion in 2024, a 14% year-on-year increase. More than 6,200 unlicensed operators are now actively targeting European consumers, and the ECA says illegal sites collectively generate the majority of online gambling revenue across the EU-27.

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The Scale of EU Illegal Gambling

The GCI study, the most comprehensive of its kind presented to European policymakers, frames the illegal market not as a fringe problem but as the dominant force in European online gambling. Across all 27 EU member states, unlicensed operators are said to capture more than half of all online gambling activity. The €91.6 billion market figure covers gross gaming revenue — stakes minus prizes returned to players — and represents money flowing almost entirely outside regulated, taxed channels.

The growth trajectory is equally alarming. The 14% year-on-year expansion from 2024 to 2025 outpaces legal market growth in virtually every regulated European jurisdiction, suggesting that tougher licensing conditions and higher tax rates in several markets may be inadvertently accelerating player migration to unlicensed sites.

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The European Parliament Roundtable

The ECA's July roundtable was deliberately timed. It took place just weeks after the European Commission tabled a legislative proposal on 24 June 2026 to expand Europol's operational mandate — a bill that explicitly names cross-border organised crime, including illegal gambling, as a priority target area. Participants spoke under Chatham House Rule, but the ECA released the headline data publicly.

Erwin van Lambaart, ECA Chair and CEO of Casinos Austria, stated that "illegal online gambling is a fast-growing, cross-border problem that puts players, especially young adults, at high risk." MEP Lukas Mandl, who hosted the event, called the issue "a serious cross-border threat touching on consumer protection, organised crime and market integrity."

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ECA Push for Expanded Europol Powers

The ECA's central policy ask is straightforward: give Europol a clearer, stronger mandate to pursue illegal gambling operators, most of whom are based outside EU jurisdiction and therefore beyond the reach of any single national regulator. The association argues that current enforcement is fragmented — national gambling authorities can block domains, but operators simply relocate or relaunch under new domains faster than regulators can act.

• Expand Europol's operational remit to treat illegal gambling as a priority cross-border crime category
• Strengthen coordination between Europol, AMLA, Eurojust, and national gambling regulators
• Require social media platforms and affiliate networks to delist promotions for unlicensed operators
• Apply the Digital Services Act (DSA) more aggressively to unlicensed gambling advertising online

The ECA noted that the European Commission has argued the DSA already provides sufficient tools, but the association contends enforcement of those tools against gambling-specific violations remains effectively non-existent.

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Licensed vs. Unlicensed: What Players Risk

Requirement	Licensed EU Operator	Unlicensed Operator
Age & identity verification	Mandatory (KYC)	Typically absent
Anti-money-laundering controls	Mandatory (AML/CFT)	None
Responsible gambling tools	Deposit limits, self-exclusion, reality checks	Absent or cosmetic
Player fund protection	Segregated or insured accounts (jurisdiction-dependent)	No protection
Dispute resolution	Regulator-backed complaints process	None
Tax contribution to member state	GGR tax, levies, licensing fees	Zero

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What Comes Next

The timing of the roundtable and the release of the GCI data is clearly intended to shape the Europol mandate legislation currently moving through EU institutions. Whether the bill will ultimately include explicit illegal gambling provisions remains uncertain, but the ECA's parliamentary footprint — bringing MEPs, the Commission, and law enforcement agencies into the same room — signals the lobbying campaign is gaining institutional traction.

For operators and bettors, the broader implication is a likely tightening of payment blocking, domain-level enforcement, and affiliate marketing rules across multiple EU markets in the next 12–18 months. Countries with recently liberalised or fully monopoly markets — particularly Finland, which opens private licensing in 2027 — will be watching the Europol debate closely as they design their own enforcement frameworks.

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Sources

Primary source first, followed by corroborating coverage. All figures are drawn from the GCI study as published by the ECA on 3 July 2026.

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 · European Parliament Roundtable, 3 July 2026