Euromat says 25% of online gambling in EU is tied to illegal operators

• The size of the European illegal gambling market has grown three-fold since 2019, based on a new Euromat report
• The report was delivered by Regulus Partners and Helios, pinpointing the value of illegal gambling at €12bn in net revenue in 2025, 25% of the total
• The report covered 28 jurisdictions, most of which were European Union member-states

Euromat has looked into the latest figures related to the state of state in Europe's online gambling market, noting that an estimated 25% of it now belongs to unlicensed or offshore operators, collectively referred to as the black market.

Euromat says illegal gambling has grown three times since 2019

According to Euromat, the black market has reached €12bn in net revenue in 2025, which is triple what the sector was pulling off in 2019, and presently accounts for 25% of the total online gambling sector.

The survey was conducted by Regulus Partners and Helios, and took 1,000 person-hours of forensic analysis to be completed.

The companies resorted to digital marketing and web traffic data, which were compared to other data sets, such as social and political developments, and the impact of country-specific regulatory interventions, as per the official press statement released by the organization.

Filip Jelavić mag.iur., Owner and Project Lead at HELIOS, spoke further about the study’s methodology and the results it has achieved. Specifically, the survey focused on 28 European online gambling markets, including the EU27, excluding Malta and Luxembourg, and adding Serbia, Montenegro, and the United Kingdom.

According to the Project Lead, the proliferation of black market operators is a consequence of governmental policies that lead to consumer friction. Put simply, the report echoes what trade groups have been saying for a while now - do not overregulate, or you risk driving people to unlicensed gambling operators.

"In such an environment, the key drivers are a combination of limited choice based on regulation and state monopolies, low visibility, distortions of price or value, as well as interventionist measures such as affordability checks - which block or inconvenience established consumer behavior," Jelavić explained.

The lost tax revenue had a profound impact on th entire regulated ecosystem - from failure to meet player protection mandates to unrealized businessopportunities and levies collected by the state’s treasuries.

It does not stop there, however, as the report has also established that the most influential black market brands these days have created visible identities and are able to reach customers by leveraging their name.

"For the ‘long-tail’ of sites, affiliate businesses provide a cost-effective means of recruiting players that is very difficult to enforce against even when laws are in place," Jelavić added, indicative of how hard it is to enforce against the sector.

Overregulating means that consumers are driven offshore

Consumer protection policies are important, he noted, but he also cautioned that once they started diverting players to the black market, they were becoming counter-productive, precisely because they ended up alienating players and sending them to brands that do not have the same commitmtnet ot protecting player interests - or shielding them from the potentially adverse consequences of gambling.

Euromat President Jason Frost also spoke about the proliferation of the black market, noting that it was a major concern and something that was a threat to the regulated sector - whether this concerned land-based or online operations.

Black market operators are also fueling other crime, with the proceeds from the sector usually leveraged to allow criminal enterprises to participate in other "high-risk, high-reward" ventures, such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, and firearms smuggling.

"Euromat members uphold the highest levels of integrity and play a key role in terms of delivering value-for-money entertainment to tens of millions of consumers across Europe," he explained.

"We uphold the importance of supporting healthy and sensibly regulated markets in which businesses contribute to the economy, provide rewarding career and job opportunities, support local supply chains and are socially responsible," Frost added.

Image credit: Unsplash.com