EGBA releases report on 2022 gambling industry in Europe

As the year is nearly out now, the European Gaming & Betting Association (EGBA) has published its annual report, "European Online Gambling Key Figures: 2022 Edition," and looked into the year's performance along with historic data and projections. The report has revealed the significance of both the online and land-based sectors and contributions toward European gambling markets.

Gross gaming revenue in 2022 performed well, hitting €108.5b, and ahead of the numbers generated in 2021. The results were in fact better by 8% than pre-pandemic results. Much of this, EGBA said, was owing to the significant rebound made in the land-based sector which picked up as COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in numerous markets.

Land-based revenue increased by 34% in 2022 to €70.3bn and in fact, accounted for 65% of the total gambling market surveyed by EGBA, the report elaborated. Online gross gaming revenue accounted for 35% of the total in Europe and sat at €38.2bn. In terms of segment popularity, the casino was the most popular vertical in terms of gross gaming revenue.

Casino accounted for 39% of the total revenue, followed closely by 35% for sports and other forms of betting, and lottery came up third. Poker and bingo accounted for 4% and 3%, and skill gaming brought up the rear, accounting for only 1% of the gross gaming revenue.

The online casino generated €14.9bn in gross gaming revenue and sports betting drove another €13.6bn in the online segment. Speaking of mobile betting, the share of mobile devices continued to increase significantly.

While in 2019 54% of the bets were placed on desktop by 2022, only 47% of bettors opted for a desktop online betting platform. This year 53% of all wagers were placed via mobile and EGBA estimates that by 2026, 64% of all bets will be made via mobile.

EGBA was also able to take a look and establish in which markets gamblers participated the most via online options. As such, the Swedish market which was legalized in 2019 led the way with 80% of all gambling activity taking place online.

Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and the UK came next with 75%, 67%, 65%, and 65% respectively. Interestingly enough, markets driving strong gross gaming revenue, such as Spain, Germany, France, and Italy saw a much smaller online participation in gambling. Spain was in fact the lowest when it comes to online participation by gamblers in Europe and the UK.

The gambling market is set to reach €134bn in 2027, combining both the land-based and online segments in the country.

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