EU Market

Like in many other sectors, the COVID-19 pandemic led to reduced market revenues in Europe’s gambling sector in 2020 and 2021, compared to previous years, and accelerated a pre-existing growth trend of online. In 2021 Europe’s total gambling market revenue is expected to be worth €87.2bn in gross gaming revenue, a decrease of 13% compared to the pre-pandemic market in 2019 but representing an increase of 7.5% compared to 2020 levels. In 2021, Europe’s online gambling revenue is expected to reach €36.4bn (41.7% of total gambling) gross gaming revenue, an increase of 19% compared to 2020 levels. Meanwhile, land-based gambling revenue is expected to increase marginally to €50.8bn (58.3% of total gambling) gross gaming revenue in 2021, an increase of 0.4% compared to 2020 levels, as the pandemic continues to restrict land-based gambling activity in many European countries.

Sports and other forms of betting are Europe’s most popular online gambling products, expected to be worth €14.64bn and accounting for 40% of Europe’s online gross gaming revenue in 2021. Of this, betting on horse racing is expected to be worth €4.88bn (13% of total) online gross gaming revenue, while online betting on sports, such as football, and other types of online betting, such as event betting, are expected to be worth €9.76bn (27% of total) online gross gaming revenue.

Online gambling is going mobile. In 2021, the share of online bets from mobile devices (phones and tablets) is expected to take over betting from desktop computers for the first time in Europe, with 50.5% of online bets expected from mobile devices and 49.5% of online bets expected to be placed from desktop. A general shift towards mobile betting is anticipated, with it expected to reach 61.5% of all online bets by 2026.

Significant differences exist in the online shares of the different national gambling markets. In 2020, Sweden was the European country with the highest share (66.2%) of its gambling activity taking place online, followed by Denmark (59.4%), UK (59.3%), Finland (58.5%) and Romania (56.7%). Notably, many of the countries which have larger total gambling markets, by revenue, such as Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, had relatively lower online shares of their gambling markets.

Significant differences exist in the online gambling product shares of the different national gambling markets. In Cyprus, there is a prohibition on online casino and poker but both products collectively account for 24% of the country’s gross gaming revenue (all offshore). In France, there is a prohibition on online casino but online casino accounts for 16% of the country’s gross gaming revenue (all offshore).