Global Gambling Statistics & Trends 2025

By Gambling Industry News - Friday 2nd May 2025 4:51 PM

The global gambling industry services billions of gamblers each year, both online and in land-based gambling establishments like casinos, bingo-halls and poker rooms and even in unusual places like cruise ships and Las Vegas airports.

Popular forms of gambling worldwide include sports-betting, lotteries, scratch-cards, casino games (like Blackjack, Roulette, Keno), bingo and card-games like poker.

Global Gambling Statistics

It is estimated that around 26% of the world’s population have gambled at some point in their lives.
Approximately 4.2 billion people gamble at least once a year. A recent study carried out across 44 countries revealed that 56% of those surveyed have gambled at least once in the past 12 months [1].

Australia has the highest rate of gambling activity among its adult population with as many as 73% of adults having gambled in the past 12 months [2].

Focusing on some of the largest gambling markets across the world, the number of active gamblers is as follows:

Country	Active Gamblers
United States	58 Million [3]
Germany	29 Million [1]
The Netherlands	1.1 Million [33]
United Kingdom	29 Million [4]
Canada	19.3 Million [5]
Australia	6.8 Million [6]
France	27 Million [7]

Note that while gambling is illegal in China, the country still accounts for a significant portion of active global gamblers thanks in part to the casino industry in Macau, as well as due to revenues from Chinese gamblers visiting other South East Asian countries to gamble at casinos. However, it’s impossible to accurately estimate how many active gamblers there are in the country.

Gambling Revenue Statistics By Country

The global casino & online gambling industry as a whole was worth an estimated $249 billion in 2022. This grew to $540 billion in 2023, far exceeding the record of $334 billion generated in 2013 [8]. The projected figures for 2024 set the market size at $572.5 billion.

The industry is expected to $754.78 billion in 2029 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.1%.

Country	Gambling Revenue
United States	$69.5B [3]
United Kingdom	$18.6B [1]
France	$14.90B [7]
Canada	$14B [10]
Australia	$10.9B [11]
Germany	$10.3B [12]
Macau	$5.24B [13]
Netherlands	€1.39B [33]

Note: Macau’s gross gaming revenues (GGR) plummeted by 51.4% to an all-time low in 2022 as a direct result of forced closures due to the global COVID health pandemic. Unlike other regions, Macau suffered several periods of closure and was also heavily impacted by travel restrictions.

Prior to the pandemic, Macau reported $29 billion GGR for 2019, placing it second only to the USA in terms of market size.

Note: Figures reflect 2023 market size with 2024 figures yet to be released.

Online Gambling

Gamblers online can wager on everything from sports and casino to politics & entertainment via online sportsbooks, casinos and poker sites using iPhones, android phones, or virtually any mobile device with a web-browser.

The global online gambling market was valued at $90 billion in 2022 while it dropped to $85.62 billion in 2023.

However, it is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 10% between 2025 and 2032 to reach $370 billion [14].

Key Online Gambling Statistics:

There are over 176 million active online gamblers and this figure could grow to 210 million by 2025 [15].
Online sports betting apps and websites have 127.8 million users. This is up from 60.3 million in 2019 and is expected to grow to 156.9 million in 2025 [15].
Online casinos have the second largest number of users with 94.1 million users representing a 62% increase since 2019 . This figure is expected to reach 112 million in 2025 [15].
Desktop devices held a market share of 45% across online gambling in 2022 [14].
Europe held the highest share of the online gambling market generating 41% of global revenue in 2022 [16].
Online casinos dominated with a 52% global market share in 2022 [16].

Poker

Poker is one of the most popular card games on the planet with a huge number of variations of the games played at casinos and in online poker rooms worldwide.

Key poker statistics:

There are over 100 million online poker players in the world [31].
There are 60 million online poker players in the USA.
The global online poker market was valued at $96.2 billion in 2023 and $102.8 billion in 2023. It is expected to be worth $170 billion by 2030 [36].
Online poker accounts increase by 34% each year [31].
No-Limit Texas Hold’em is the most popular poker variant with over 12 million global players [31].

Global Sports Betting Statistics & Trends

The global sports betting market was worth $83.65 billion in 2022 and grew to $102.4 billion in 2024.

The industry is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.3% from 2025 to 2030 at which point it estimated that it will be worth $182.12 billion. [17]

The online sports betting market was worth $36.5 billion in 2022 and $56.6 billion in 2023. Online sports betting is expected to record a CAGR of 14.2% from 2023 to 2032 at which points it is expected to be worth in the region of $116.7 billion. [18]

North America is projected to account for 24.3% of the global sports betting market by 2034.

Why Do People Gamble?

According to research, 35% of the population has placed a sports wager in the past 12 months, giving the following reasons for placing bets in the past 12 months [1].

48% want to win money
35% enjoy the excitement
33% say it makes sports more interesting
29% like the competition
18% see it as a hobby
18% want to try something new
14% were encouraged by peers

How Often do People Bet On Sports?

Research has revealed how often to people bet on sports. Sports bettors across the globe place wagers at the following frequencies [1] :

Sports Betting Frequency
Frequency	% of Bettors
Every day	7%
A few times a week	19%
Once a week	13%
A few times a month	18%
Once a month	8%
A few times a year	14%
Once a year	5%
Less than once a year	16%

Casinos Worldwide – 2025 Statistics & Trends

There are over 9,000 casinos located across the world with the highest number found in North America. The most recent figures show that North America which includes Canada, the United States and Mexico has around 3,451 casinos.

Macau is the country with the highest number of casinos and gaming facilities by land area with 41 casinos.

Las Vegas is the city with the most casinos with 60 major casino properties within the city’s limits. However, as Las Vegas is about three times larger than Macau, the island territory still holds the record for highest casino density.

Region	Number of casinos
Africa	253
Asia	328
Caribbean	192
Central & South America	568
Europe	3,785
Oceania	753
North America (US & Canada)	3,451

Expect the figures above to change in the coming months, as casino projects in Las Vegas, Macau, and proposed casino developments across multiple states in the USA get underway.

Global Gambling Business Statistics

2023’s number of gambling businesses represents an all-time high for the global industry
According to the latest statistics there are 4,792 global casinos and online gambling businesses registered to operate in 2023 [8]. This figure reflects a 4.3% growth in companies registered compared to the previous year while annualized business growth from 2018 through 2022 was 6.1%. [8]

The regions with the highest number of registered gambling businesses are as follows. [8]

Region	Number of businesses
Europe	3,211
North America	2,884
Africa & Middle East	373

Which Countries Gamble the Most?

Australian gamblers spend an average of $1,000 per year on gambling and will spend an average of between $54 and $71 on a typical day of gambling [19].
Studies have been conducted in order to evaluate which countries like to gamble the most.

Ireland: Irish gamblers spend an average of $713 on gambling each year [19].
United Kingdom: In England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the average gambler spends $179 a year on betting and gaming [20]. UK Gambling Commission statistics for 2023 revealed that 48% of 11-17 year-olds had some experience with gambling in the past 12 months
United States: The average adult in the USA spends $261 a year on lotteries and casino gambling [21].
Australia: has the highest gambling losses per person at around $1635 per year [22].
Singapore: has the second highest rate of gambling losses per capita with the average gambler losing $725 per year [22].
Macau: has the top gambling revenue based on visitors at $1,354 per person [23].

Problem Gambling

Unfortunately a small percentage of gamblers develop problematic gambling tendencies which can lead to addiction.

Various studies have shed light on this problem:

1 in every 400 adults—0.23% of the global adult population—has sought help for a gambling problem [24].
Serious problem gambling affects between 0.1 and 5.8% of the global adult population [24].
Over 750,000 people aged 14 to 21 have problems with compulsive gaming [38].
In the UK, around 0.5% of the population has a gambling problem, an estimated 168,149 people, up by 50% year-on-year [25].
In the United States, between 1 and 2% of the population suffers from the harms of gambling [26].
In Australia, 46% of people who gamble are considered to as being at some risk of gambling harm [27].
Only 1% of women with gambling problems seek support.
66% of problem gamblers have admitted turning to crime to fund their gambling habit.
During the global pandemic the number of compulsive gamblers grew by 17.6%.

In August 2024 The UK’s Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust (Ygam) announced a partnership with Scouting UK to teach scouts about the dangers of gambling and how to make informed decisions that will protect them from the harms of problem gambling.

UK GAMSTOP Stats – 2024

GAMSTOP (a free service that lets you put controls in place to help restrict your online gambling activities) recorded 49,494 total new registrants in the first half of 2024, taking the total number signed up for the self-exclusion scheme to 482,815.

There was a 12% increase in the number of 16-24 year old registrants as the average age of those joining the scheme continuing to decline compared to the same period in 2023.

Gambling Fines, Sanctions and Financial Penalties

Since 2020, global fines for gambling operators have increased by over 394%. [28]
Despite strict regulation and the threat of heavy fines and license suspension or revocation, gambling operators throughout the world continue to breach license conditions and local gambling laws. The majority of these breaches involve social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.

Year	Total Global Fines
2020	$56,822,957 / £44,734,173 / €49,565,463
2021	$51,217,461 / £40,321,217 / €48,062,890
2022	$269,532,490 / £220,948,192 / €255,993,308
2023	$445,988,016 / £352,735,367 / €405,645,672
2024	$180,985,650 / £148,317,315 / €176,123,811

The largest penalty issued by a gambling regulator in 2023 was the AU$67 million ($44.6 million / £34.5 million /€41 million) financial penalty the Federal Court of Australia ordered SkyCity Adelaide Pty Ltd to pay.

The largest penalty issued by the UK Gambling Commission was the £6 million ($7.6 million / €6.9 million) to Gamesys Operations.

Largest Publicly Traded Gambling Companies By Market Capitalization

Market capitalization sometimes referred as Marketcap, is the value of a publicly listed company. In many cases it can be calculated by multiplying the share price with the amount of outstanding shares.

References

1. tgmresearch.com/gambling-sports-betting-market-research-in-germany.html#cb99e6571f
2. aifs.gov.au/research/research-snapshots/gambling-participation-and-experience-harm-australia

1. 1. www.xace.io/payments/uk-gambling-statistics-2023

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