In 2021 the online gambling industry was worth nearly £54billion, when one year earlier its value was £49billion showing how big the market is and how much potential for further growth it has, considering that it has risen in the past few years by double-digit growth rates. Gambling is growing impressively not only in land-based shops, but in online bookmakers as well. Now, out of all online gambling markets – including casinos, bingos, lotteries- it is the online betting market that leads the growth. Notably online sports betting, including rugby betting, has an almost 47% share of the total industry revenues. And of all online betting markets, it is Europe that holds the largest share of the pie, with nearly 40% of the global turnover.
It's not a big surprise that Europe holds the leading position in the online betting market. Gambling in the region goes back as far as one can think, with the flourishing of human civilization being inextricably linked with it. We now know that Ancient Greeks and Ancient Romans were frequently engaging to gambling for entertainment and socialization and we have historic evidence of them playing cards and dice and of having invented the chips that are commonly used today in casinos.
And just as it happened in the past with the first traces of gambling, Europe's place in the world map of online betting is at the spotlight, since it constitutes the biggest market with revenues far exceeding £32.5billion. But which are the top European online betting markets leading the growth and sustaining its top rank? Below we present the five bigger markets by revenue value share.
United Kingdom
It should not come as a surprise to anyone that the UK is at the top of the European online gambling markets. In fact, nearly 59% of all gambling takes place online and this has been a result of the legalization of online sportsbooks and the effective regulatory framework established by the Gambling Act 2005 and the Gambling Commission. The UK was among the first countries to make online betting legal and enable, in this way, bookmakers, casinos and other gambling shops to move to the virtual world. Today, online gambling the UK stands at almost £8.3billion, which concern predominantly online casinos, online sportsbooks and lotteries.
Germany
Germany comes in second place in the ranking of online betting markets, with more than £2.65billion reported revenues, representing almost 27% of the total £10.6billion industry's turnover. Although online gambling takes up approximately only one third of the market, it is the second biggest in Europe, but It has certainly more room for growth. And as for the online gambling products, sports betting holds the leading position, followed by lottery and casinos.
France has a lower online gambling market by revenue compared to Germany, but it has a comparatively greater online gambling share of the total market. French online gambling accounts for 27% of the industry's revenues, which stand at nearly £8.9billion in total. Sports betting, poker and casino are the three main online gambling products chosen by gamblers in France.
Spain
Spain comes fourth in the online gambling value share in Europe. The gambling market's value is nearly £5.3billion, while online gambling's share is 25% or £1.3billion. The greatest part of online gambling goes to sports betting and casinos, while Spanish people also show strong preference for online lottery.
Italy's total gambling market value now stands at nearly £11.5billion, with £2.4billion being generated by online revenues. This means that almost 20% of the total gambling industry revenues in Italy come from online gambling. Sports betting and casinos go side by side in the preferences of Italian punters when it comes to online gambling, while it appears that the lottery is hardly ever played online.
