Gambling tax rates in Europe 2026: country by country comparison
In this special report, Focus Gaming News analyses the mounting fiscal pressure on Europe’s regulated gambling markets.
Key takeaways
- Europe’s regulated gambling market generated €123.4bn in GGR in 2024, of which €47.9bn (39%) came from online, the fastest-growing segment. EGBA members alone contributed €3.8bn in taxes.
- The Netherlands raised GGR tax from 30.5% (2024) to 34.2% (January 2025) and then to 37.8% (January 2026), producing far less revenue than expected: the Treasury had projected an additional €108m in 2025, but the actual uplift was around €2m.
- The UK more than doubled its Remote Gaming Duty -from 21% to 40%- effective April 1, 2026, while a new 25% Remote Betting Duty takes effect from April 2027.
- In the Netherlands, casino visits fell roughly 11% year-on-year between Q1 2025 and Q1 2026, and several operators reduced their physical footprint, citing the higher tax burden.
- According to a UK study by Frontier Economics for the BGC, approximately £2.7bn is staked annually with unlicensed online operators, suggesting that when legal offerings lose competitiveness, the black market gains.
Europe’s regulated gambling market is one of the largest in the world, generating €123.4bn in gross gaming revenue (GGR) in 2024, according to data from the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA). Yet the licensed sector that produces those figures is under mounting challenges.
Facing budget pressures, several governments have raised gambling taxes, increased licence fees and added supervision costs in pursuit of public revenue. These measures are designed to fund public services and strengthen player protection, but they also test the viability of licensed businesses and risk driving players towards unregulated offshore platforms.
Here, Focus Gaming News analyses the rising cost of compliance across Europe’s main regulated markets, the major policy changes taking effect in 2025 and 2026, their early results, the views of industry stakeholders, and the structural challenges that will shape the sector’s future.
The scale of the challenge
Of the €123.4bn in European GGR recorded in 2024, online gambling accounted for €47.9bn, or 39 per cent of the total — the fastest-growing segment. Licensed operators, however, carry a growing burden: taxes levied on GGR or on stakes, multi-year licence fees, ongoing supervision levies, advertising restrictions, player protection requirements such as deposit limits and self-exclusion systems, and extensive anti-money laundering obligations. EGBA members alone contributed €3.8bn in taxes to European economies in 2024.
Higher taxes reduce operator margins, the returns they can offer players in the form of bonuses and odds, and their ability to invest in marketing and product development. Analysts are increasingly concerned that, when the fiscal burden becomes too high, the regulated offering will lose competitiveness against unlicensed operators, which will weaken channelling — the proportion of activity that remains within the legal market — rather than increasing revenue.
The black market remains the central concern. In the United Kingdom, a study by Frontier Economics, commissioned by the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), estimated that £2.7bn (US$3.6bn) is staked each year with unlicensed online operators — around 2.1 per cent of the money wagered with licensed online operators — with a further £1.6bn (US$2.1bn) staked in illegal premises. Unregulated operators, exempt from taxes and regulatory fees, can compete aggressively on price and convenience through larger bonuses, better odds and fewer restrictions. The tension is structural: governments’ growing reliance on gambling revenue can collide with their harm-reduction objectives, and the pressure falls hardest on smaller operators, accelerating consolidation.
Key policy shifts in 2025 and 2026
Several major markets have intensified fiscal pressure in the past two years.
Netherlands: The GGR tax rose from 30.5 per cent to 34.2 per cent on January 1, 2025, and again to 37.8 per cent on January 1, 2026. Combined with a 1.95 per cent supervision and addiction levy established in 2021, the effective burden approaches 40 per cent of GGR. New remote licence fees also rose from €48,000 to €61,300.
United Kingdom: Remote Gaming Duty, which applies mainly to online casino, rose from 21 per cent to 40 per cent from April 1, 2026, while a new 25 per cent Remote Betting Duty takes effect from April 2027. Bingo Duty has been abolished. Separately, the government confirmed a 25 per cent increase in Gambling Commission licence fees from October 1, 2026.
Sweden: Sweden increased its gambling excise tax from 18 per cent to 22 per cent of GGR on July 1, 2024, with the government arguing that the four‑point rise would strengthen public finances without unduly harming channelisation. A full ban on offering gambling credit came into effect on May 1, 2026.
Germany: The 5.3 per cent tax on stakes, rather than on GGR, for sports betting, virtual slots and online poker continues to weigh on the competitiveness of the regulated sector, alongside a €1,000 monthly cross-operator deposit limit.
Italy: Italy is overhauling its online gambling regime with new nine‑year concessions priced at €7m per licence and an annual fee equal to 3 per cent of net GGR, excluding gambling taxes.
These national measures coincide with wider discussion at EU level about the scope for greater harmonisation of enforcement and standards, though full EU-level gambling legislation remains politically remote.
Early outcomes and implementation
Results so far have sometimes fallen short of expectations. In the Netherlands, a joint monitoring report by the Ministry of Finance and the Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) showed that two-phase increase in gambling tax in the country produced less revenue than what policymakers had anticipated.
The Treasury had projected an additional €108m in 2025 and €216m in 2026, but the actual uplift was around €2m in 2025 and an estimated €57m in 2026, when compared against 2024. The KSA attributed this to a contracting GGR base, while cautioning that the effect of the tax rises was difficult to isolate from other regulatory changes such as deposit limits and advertising restrictions.
The tax hikes hit state‑owned operators particularly hard. Holland Casino reported dips in pre‑tax profit reductions of around €27m in 2025 and €54m in 2026, and visits to casinos and gaming halls fell by roughly 11 per cent year-on-year between the first quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026. Several operators reduced their physical footprint or closed venues, citing the higher tax burden among the contributing factors.
In Sweden, regulated gambling growth has been modest since the tax rise, with total market expansion in early 2026 around 0.8 per cent and online segments growing slightly faster. However, operators report margin pressure and concerns about longer‑term profitability as they absorb higher tax and compliance costs while maintaining competitive offerings against offshore sites. Enforcement tools such as payment blocking and advertising bans have been strengthened, but technological workarounds – including VPNs, crypto payments and social‑media marketing – continue to undermine channelisation efforts.
Stakeholder perspectives
Legislators generally frame higher taxes as necessary to fund harm-reduction programmes and public services. Trade associations and industry groups, however, point to unintended consequences. The EGBA and national bodies such as Sweden’s BOS argue that excessively high taxes ultimately weaken consumer protection by shrinking the regulated market and pushing players towards unregulated operators that offer no safeguards.
Analysts and consultants frequently refer to the Laffer Curve when assessing gambling‑tax changes, highlighting that there is likely to be an optimal band of tax rates that maximises both channelisation and revenue.
Smaller operators tend to report sharper cuts to marketing and innovation budgets when duties and compliance costs rise, sometimes culminating in market exits, while larger groups can absorb higher costs or pursue acquisitions to maintain scale. Legal experts also point to growing regulatory fragmentation across EU and non‑EU markets, which increases complexity and cost for cross‑border operators despite EU‑level discussions on closer alignment.
Persistent challenges
Several structural issues continue to complicate the picture:
- Price distortions from stake taxes or high GGR levies reduce player value and make illegal alternatives more appealing.
- Regulatory fragmentation across jurisdictions drives up compliance costs and complexity.
- Technological evasion, including VPNs, crypto payments, and offshore platforms, undermines enforcement efforts.
- Market consolidation and reduced innovation, as high barriers disadvantage smaller players and prompt cuts in bonuses and marketing.
- Data gaps, with limited reliable, comparable information on black-market size hindering evidence-based policymaking.
Uncertainties around price elasticities and long-term player behaviour add to the difficulty.
Fiscal pressure also interacts directly with the enforcement agenda. In November 2025, seven European regulators issued a joint statement pledging to coordinate against illegal operators, but stronger enforcement risks being undercut if the competitiveness of the legal offering is erroded.
Outlook and policy considerations
If fiscal trends continue, there is a risk that black‑market growth will accelerate, tax bases will erode, and overall consumer protections will weaken – outcomes that conflict with stated policy goals.
More forward‑looking strategies could include, industry observers suggest, calibrating taxes on the basis of evidence, with attention to channelling effectiveness; advancing coordination on enforcement, payment blocking and core standards; introducing incentives for strong compliance and investment in harm reduction; and establishing regular joint studies between regulators and industry to improve the data underpinning policy.
Europe’s regulated gambling markets are approaching a turning point. Recent tax and compliance measures have delivered some short-term fiscal gains, but they carry a longer-term risk to the licensed sector, to player safety and to sustainable revenues. As the major tax changes take full effect through 2026 and new licensing cycles begin, policymakers face a choice between prioritising immediate budgets and investing in the balance between fiscal, protective and competitive objectives on which a resilient regulated market depends.
