Just how big is the interactive global and betting market in 2015? Which country gambles the most? Well, business intelligence gurus and eCommerce Intelligence experts yStats.com think they know. Or they are a good way towards knowing.
Their report, the “Global Online Gambling and Betting Market 2015”, explains that online gambling is increasing worldwide (no surprises there I guess), and governments are getting into gear to put in regulation with the aim of protecting their citizens (oh, and raising taxes of course).
More and more people are gambling on their phones at mobile casinos and using bet in play services such as offered by companies like bet365, and the market is consolidating (the recent news that 888 is buying bwin.party is just one example of this trend).
The worldwide online betting and gambling market (most companies in the market prefer to call it online gaming, which seems softer somehow) is predicted to continue to grow by single digit rates for the next 4 years, to a hefty multi-billion Euros size. The big trend is still on mobiles and tablets. Consolidation of the industry continues at a pace with 888 buying bwin.party and the earlier purchase of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker by Amaya Gaming Group. Leading the pack round the course that is global interactive gaming is William Hill and Paddy Power who grew their businesses +20%, with Bwin.Party clocking a decline in revenues- one of the reasons it has been snapped up by 888.
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Europe is the biggest online gambling market thanks to advanced regulation on the continent. New markets are opening up such as Holland, who are looking to the market to raise taxes following the success of the UK, France and Spain (although Gibraltar is still trying o put the brakes on this, in the UK’s case). It’s sports betting that takes the lion’s share of money bet in these markets. Italy, in contrast, generates more money from online casino players. Well, the origin of the word casino is Italian, I guess. Russia remains a grey market, online gambling is officially illegal, but it looks like that might change in the near future.
Heading over to the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore has banned interactive gambling (probably in response from Sheldon Adelson who has a huge landbased business based there in the form of the Marina Bay Sands). Head to China and South Korea, and online gambling is against the law, but a more liberal approach is in place in Australia, where foreign firms vye with each other to attract customers to offshore sites.
In the States, there are now 3 states that allow online gambling, New Jersey is by far the biggest market, though growth has been sluggish across all three. Heading south, both Brazil and Mexico are in the process of regulating this activity and in Africa, South Africa, is continuing to resist legalizing online gambling despite the fact that it has a large landbased sector, and many of the world’s biggest online casino sites are run by South Africans (Microgaming being the prime example).
