The illegal online gambling market aimed at consumers in the EU reached an estimated €91.6bn in 2025, up around 14% on the prior year, according to figures presented at a European Parliament roundtable on 6 July. The European Casino Association (ECA) said the total means EU member states lost about €22.9bn in tax revenue last year to wagers placed with unlicensed operators.
The estimate comes from an annual study commissioned by the ECA and conducted by Gambling Compliance International (GCI). It overtook the event’s own framing: the roundtable’s title still referred to a 2024 estimate of €80bn, the latest figure available when the session was organised, before the new number was released at the event itself.
The data also suggests that unlicensed operators now account for the majority of online gambling revenue across the EU-27. GCI estimates that more than 6,200 illegal operators are actively targeting European consumers, and that most of the online gambling content Europeans encounter promotes those operators rather than licensed ones.
A cross-border enforcement gap
The €22.9bn tax figure reframes illegal gambling as a public-finance problem as much as a consumer-protection one. Licensed casinos and their online arms operate under national tax, anti-money-laundering and responsible-gambling rules, while operators based outside the EU can reach the same players without those obligations.
ECA chair Erwin van Lambaart said the study leaves little ambiguity about the trend.
“The 2025 data from the GCI report leaves no room for doubt: illegal online gambling is a fast-growing, cross-border problem that puts players, especially young adults, at high risk, deprives societies of much-needed tax revenues, and undermines trust in the regulated market,” he said.
“Licensed casinos and their online businesses operate under strict rules and invest heavily in responsible gambling and anti-money-laundering measures. Yet illegal operators, often based outside the EU, can reach European consumers at the click of a button, without safeguards, without oversight and without contributing to our communities.”
Van Lambaart called for stronger political backing and closer public-private cooperation, naming the European Commission, Europol and the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA) as bodies that could help connect national enforcement efforts and financial intelligence units. “If we fail to act now, the illegal online market will continue to grow at the expense of players, public finances and legitimate businesses,” he said.
Who was in the room
The roundtable was hosted by MEP Lukas Mandl and attended by EU lawmakers, the European Commission, AMLA, Eurojust, the Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group on Europol, national gambling regulators and industry experts. Participants discussed the scale of illegal online gambling and possible responses under the Chatham House Rule, which allows the substance of a discussion to be reported without attributing remarks to named individuals.
The ECA said the session was timely given the European Commission’s proposal to reform Europol’s mandate. Mandl framed the issue as a matter of internal-market integrity, not a niche concern.
“Illegal online gambling is not a niche issue, it is a serious cross-border threat that touches on consumer protection, organised crime and the integrity of our internal market,” Mandl said. “Europol is a crucial partner for Member States, but we must ensure that its mandate and resources allow it to fully support the fight against these illegitimate activities.”
Part of a wider pattern
The EU figures echo findings in individual markets. A study for the UK’s Betting and Gaming Council earlier this year found illegal operators accounted for almost half of all UK gambling advertising spend and could become the majority within two years. Enforcement bodies have also documented the reach of unlicensed operators, as seen in Entain research exposing an illegal gambling network on UK social media. GCI’s wider modelling has put the value of unregulated online gambling globally at $5.9tn in 2025.
The lost-tax angle also lands as Brussels weighs fiscal measures for the sector, with an EU iGaming tax proposal gaining momentum. Mandl said he would bring the ECA’s findings into parliamentary work and press colleagues across parties to act. With the Europol mandate under review and the GCI estimate still climbing, the pressure now sits with EU institutions to turn the data into coordinated enforcement.
Source: European Casino Association
