European gambling revenue stabilised above pre-pandemic levels in 2022

European gambling revenue was up 8 per cent above 2019 levels, according to data published by the EGBA.

Brussels.- European gross gambling revenue (GGR) rose by 23 per cent year-on-year to €108.5bn in 2022. That’s 8 per cent higher than pre-pandemic figures in 2019 according to a report by the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) and H2 Gambling Capital.

The EGBA noted that the year-on-year increase was driven by the post-pandemic reopening of land-based casinos and betting shops. However, the EGBA noted that European online gambling revenue also continued to grow.

Land-based gambling revenue in Europe was calculated to be €70.3bn, up 34 per cent year-on-year but still down 6 per cent compared to 2019. Online gambling revenue rose by 8 per cent year-on-year to €38.2bn.

The annual European Online Gambling – Key Figures report covers the EU-27 and the UK gambling markets. It includes aggregated data and forecasts for Europe’s gambling market, online gambling products, and information about the different national gambling markets in Europe, as well as customer and revenue data from EGBA member companies bet365, Betsson Group, Entain, Flutter, Kindred Group, and William Hill.

EGBA secretary general Maarten Haijer said: “Europe’s gambling market began to stabilise this year following the unprecedented upheaval and disruption of the pandemic. 

“While the steady upward trend of online gambling continues, land-based gambling is now rebounding from the widespread shutdowns of casinos and betting shops during the past two years. The World Cup provided an uplift for operators this year, with several unexpected match results being friendly to the bookmakers.” 

Data from EGBA members

• EGBA members had a combined €11.6bn in online gambling GGR, accounting for 33 per cent of Europe’s online gambling revenue in 2022.
• Sports betting accounted for 46 per cent of online gambling GGR, followed by online casino at 45 per cent.

Customers

• There were 29.8m online gambling customers in Europe.
• EGBA members processed 111.6bn online bets or stakes (including bonuses) for a combined value of €202,9bn.
• They returned €191.3bn in customer winnings, with an average return to player rate of 94.3 per cent.

Sports betting types

• The share of pre-match sports betting grew, with pre-match betting accounting for 66 per cent of online sports betting GGR of EGBA members.

Licensing

• EGBA members held a combined total of 225 online gambling licences across 21 European countries.

In December, the EGBA asked the European Committee for Standardisation to create a standardised list of markers of gambling harm. It says such a measure is essential to help prevent gambling-related harm in Europe.

The body says that a European standard would improve the early identification of possible risky or problem gambling behaviour among online players. A group of leading academics and harm prevention experts have signed a joint letter of support for the move, indicating that its development would encourage research collaboration to improve the understanding of problem gambling and support harm prevention.