Illegal Gambling EU Market Hits €91.6bn, Costs Bloc €22.9bn

⏱ 3 min read

Europe's illegal gambling black market expanded to €91.6 billion in 2025, according to new data presented at a high-level European Parliament roundtable on 3 July 2026. The figure represents a 14% increase over the €80 billion recorded in 2024 — and arrived at the session as a live surprise, replacing the prior-year estimate that had been printed on the event's own programme.

The numbers come from the European Casino Association (ECA)'s annual impact study, conducted by Gambling Compliance International (GCI). They show that illegal gambling cost EU member states an estimated €22.9 billion in lost tax revenue last year, while more than 6,200 unlicensed operators actively targeted European consumers. Illegal sites now account for the majority of online gambling revenue across the EU-27 — making black-market play the statistical norm, not the exception.

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The Parliament Roundtable

The ECA hosted the session inside the European Parliament, with MEP Lukas Mandl presiding as host. Participants included representatives from the European Commission, Europol, the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), Eurojust, the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group (JPSG) on Europol, national gambling regulators from across the bloc, and iGaming industry specialists. All discussions were held under the Chatham House Rule, meaning positions expressed cannot be publicly attributed to individual speakers.

Mandl framed the stakes plainly: illegal online gambling is not a regulatory footnote but a serious threat cutting across consumer protection, organised crime and the integrity of the EU's internal market. He signalled cross-party parliamentary support for expanding Europol's resources and authority to give member states effective backup against operators that treat borders as irrelevant.

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Scale of the Illegal Market

The 2025 GCI study delivers the most detailed picture yet of how far unlicensed gambling has spread:

• €91.6 billion — total illegal online gambling market targeting EU consumers in 2025
• €22.9 billion — estimated tax revenue lost by EU governments
• 6,200+ unlicensed operators actively targeting European players
• Illegal operators now generate the majority of online gambling revenue across the EU-27
• The overwhelming majority of online gambling content Europeans encounter promotes unlicensed sites

ECA chair Erwin van Lambaart told the roundtable that national enforcement agencies are structurally outpaced by operators running cross-border at scale while evading local regulation. Meaningful enforcement, he argued, requires Europol, the European Commission, AMLA, and national financial intelligence units to share data and coordinate action — not operate in separate silos.

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Licensed vs. Unlicensed: What Players Lose

The ECA makes clear that no recognised grey market exists under EU law. An operator either holds a valid licence for the jurisdiction it serves or it is illegal — full stop. The table below maps the practical gap between the two categories:

Area	Licensed Operators	Unlicensed Operators
AML Compliance	Full KYC and AML obligations; cooperation with national and EU authorities	No AML controls; creates risk of money laundering and crime financing
Player Protection	Mandatory responsible gambling tools; safeguards for vulnerable players and young adults	Age checks ignored; aggressive marketing and personalised bonuses target vulnerable users
Tax Contribution	Significant tax payments to member state governments; supports local economies	Zero tax paid in the markets targeted; public revenue diverted offshore
Licensing	Operate under a valid licence in each country they serve	Some impersonate legitimate operators in ads; no regulatory accountability

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Europol Reform: The Policy Window

The roundtable's timing was deliberate. On 24 June 2026, the European Commission published a legislative proposal to overhaul Europol's mandate, giving the agency a more operational role in cross-border crime investigations. The ECA used the Parliament session to push directly for illegal gambling to be written into Europol's expanded priority list — not treated as a side issue within broader organised crime enforcement.

The Commission's proposal is now moving through the ordinary legislative procedure, requiring agreement from both the European Parliament and the Council of the EU before it can take effect. That process typically spans months to years, but MEP Mandl's signal of cross-party support strengthens the ECA's hand in the lobbying phase.

Van Lambaart was direct about the consequence of inaction: without coordinated enforcement, illegal operators will continue gaining ground at the expense of licensed businesses, public revenues, and player safety.

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Platforms and Illegal Advertising

A parallel pressure point is how unlicensed operators reach players in the first place. Affiliate programmes and content creator partnerships on platforms including YouTube and Twitch have been repeatedly flagged as key distribution channels for illegal gambling marketing.

The European Commission has maintained that existing law already provides the tools to address this. Responding to a written question from German MEP Sabine Verheyen — who cited ECA-commissioned research estimating that 71% of online gambling activity targeting European users takes place on unlicensed sites — the Commission pointed to the Digital Services Act (DSA) as the primary mechanism. The DSA requires platforms to provide illegal content reporting systems and obliges the largest platforms and search engines to assess and actively reduce the spread of unlawful material, including ads for unlicensed gambling services.

Whether that framework is sufficient to meaningfully reduce the black market's advertising reach — without dedicated enforcement focused on the gambling sector specifically — remains the central open question heading into the Europol mandate debate.

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Sources

This article draws on the ECA's primary press release, the European Gaming regulatory report, and multiple specialist iGaming publications that independently verified the GCI study findings.

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