Expansion of the European Gaming Market Signals Strong Industry Growth

The European gambling market continues to flourish. Provisional figures released by the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) and H2 Gambling Capital have shown a 5% increase in Gross Gambling Revenue (GGGR) for 2024.

The GGR totalled €123.4 billion (£103.1 billion) and this impressive figure covers all members of the European Union as well as the UK. The provisional  total covers both online and land-based gambling markets for last year.

The largest increase came in the provisional total GGR for online sites. There was an 11.7% increase to €47.9 billion. That amounts to 39% of the year’s total GGR.

€24.6 billion of that GGR figure came from iGaming with casino-type games (including slots) proving incredibly successful with a total of €23.2 billion. Such games accounted for 45% of the total online gambling GGR last year.

Online betting revenue totalled €16.2 billion. Of that total, €13.7 billion came from sports and events betting. That figure is 29% of all online GGR. There was also €7.1 billion spent online playing lottery games.

Gambling on your mobile phones remains hugely popular. 58% of the total online GGR came from players placing bets in that way with the other 42% coming from wagers placed on desktops.

There was a smaller rise of 1.3% for land-based GGR but the total was €75.5 billion which was 61% of the European GGR figure. For gaming, there was a total of €35 billion which was just below the 2023 total. Gaming machines recorded a total of €24.9 billion but that was below the figure of €30.8 billion recorded by lotteries such as EuroMillions.

When it comes to betting on sport, the total placed at online sites beat that recorded at retail venues. Betting on horse racing however produced more GGR than at online sites.

In terms of total GGR, the United Kingdom continues to record highly impressive results. Approximately £14 billion was generated in 2024. Of this total, land-based casinos generated a total of £4.6 billion. UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) data recorded revenue of £2.5 billion revenue from the gaming machines that are in High Street betting shops. Online sports betting produced GGY of £647 million in Q3.

The online casino market produced a total of £6.9 billion Gross Gaming Yield (GGY) for the period between April 2023 and March 2024. The UK gambling industry continues to see technological advances being made with live casinos continually growing in popularity, according to online casino guides aGamble. These produce a gaming experience that is as close as you can get to that seen at land-based casinos.

As in the rest of Europe, online slots are the main source of funds. Q3 of the 2024 financial year saw a total of £709 million GGY for online slots which was 15% higher than recorded in the previous financial year.

However, there are some problems ahead for the UK gambling industry with stricter regulation being introduced. In April, the maximum stake for online slots will be reduced to just £2 for those aged 18-24. The following month will see a new maximum stake of £5 introduced for players aged over the age of 24.

The move is being made after fears about how addictive the online slot games can be, especially for younger players. With no maximum stake limit in place, a lot of money can be lost in a short period of time. There have also been calls for the speed of online slots to be further reduced.

Further regulation is on its way for the UK gambling industry. This year will see a compulsory levy introduced by the Labour government and is expected to begin in April with the first payments being made by the start of October.

The aim is to raise up to £100 million with funds being used to help those who are affected by gambling harm. This will also aid research into the subject and treatment. Online operators and those who hold software licenses are to pay 1.1% of GGY. The figure falls to 0.5% for land-based operators and 0.2% for on-course bookmakers, bingo premises and amusement arcades. National Insurance increases could also hit revenue figures.

The latter is more a concern in terms of employment. As far as the online slots measure, it is believed that this may affect those in the second and third tiers of the industry rather than the leading companies such as Entain and Flutter.

There is expected to be continued growth in the European gambling industry. By 2029, GGR for the European market is forecasted to be  €149.2 billion by 2029 with the online revenue figure percentage share reaching 45%. A total GGR of €22 billion by 2029.for the gaming industry is forecasted. It remains to be seen if stricter regulation throughout Europe will hit those figures.