Europe’s gambling 72% take unregulated online platforms

According to a fresh report released by Gaming Compliance International (GCI) for the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, online gambling past regulation produced an assessment of €91.6 billion, which is an indication of gross gambling revenue (GGR) from consumers residing within the 27 EU member states. This rate of change means that the pain came from a previous rate of €52.6 billion amount produced just two years ago (2023), i.e. it grew by 74%. As for the data provided by the report, it is claimed that 72% (still uneasy with that number) of the gambling marketplace mentioned under reference is made by unregulated players. According to the data, the total reached 121 million of people influenced by online gambling in Europe in 2025, which means it is as high as 88 million of people having been provided with content related to unregulated gambling. Out of the total amount of people affected by gambling-related prompts of all sorts, 91% of people had to face the content promoting the unregulated field of gambling. However, GCI believes that sanctions should not come in place only for unregulated operators, as there are a number of other supporting structures involved in this process. Derek Webb, founder of the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, said: Europe has an enforcement failure occurring in plain sight. €91.6bn in online gambling revenue was generated outside the local regulatory perimeter in 2025. That scale should focus attention on enforcement – on operators evading local rules and the infrastructure that enables them to reach European consumers. The answer is not weaker regulation or tax concessions for licensed operators. Europe has an enforcement problem. Unregulated gambling operates across borders, platforms and infrastructure while enforcement remains overwhelmingly national. A licence ‘from somewhere’ is not permission to operate everywhere. Ismail Vali, president of Gaming Compliance International and founder and former chief executive of Yield Sec, said: By the time the bet is placed, the battle for the customer may already have been lost. Unregulated gambling is winning audience attention before the consumer ever reaches a gambling site. You cannot optimise what you do not measure. Europe needs to see the whole marketplace – regulated and unregulated – and enforce across the ecosystem that sustains it.