Is Europe the underdog of the gambling industry?

[peter0425]

When we talk about booming gambling industry, one may think of USA or Macau immediately. But neither of these countries are in Europe. I do not think that Europe is the first thought of tourists if they want to gamble or at least I don't. I can only think of one place in Europe I would want to visit and gamble in and that's the Monte Carlo Casino. But Europe may be going under the radar when it comes to the gambling industry.

As other countries continue to strengthen their restrictions on gambling, Europe is instead benefitting heavily from it. Now let's talk about European Success Stories: Lessons in Practical Regulation.

In first position stands the United Kingdom, with its Gambling Commission governing a £14.3 billion a year industry. Its approach centers on three pillars: keeping crime out of gambling, fairness, and safeguarding vulnerable consumers. The result? A 21% gross gaming revenue tax that collected £3.1 billion in 2023 alone.

Malta does things in a different way, positioning itself as a licensing hub. The Malta Gaming Authority has licensed over 300 operators, created thousands of jobs, and given back about 12% GDP of the country. This island nation has transformed regulatory expertise into a strong economic influence.

Other countries only tend to focus on the negative sides of gambling and go out to ban it completely and doesn't want to take advantage of the possible profit from gambling. This statement sums it up pretty well: If you prohibit something technology has made available and convenient, you don't eliminate demand. You simply export the revenue.

[Luzin]

But Europe may be going under the radar when it comes to the gambling industry.

According to what I read, revenue in Europe surpassed €27 billion in 2025. This means that this is also quite large. It's mentioned surpassing other continents. According to sources this is due to a mature, stable and sophisticated regulatory environment. They have made certain standards that are mutually agreed upon, but each country still has full power to regulate itself. mature, stable, and sophisticated regulatory environment. Various authoritative bodies have also been established to regulate gambling across Europe.

Source: https://altenar.com/blog/gambling-laws-and-regulations-in-europe-in-2024/

Other countries only tend to focus on the negative sides of gambling and go out to ban it completely and doesn't want to take advantage of the possible profit from gambling.

I respect many countries. I think they have beliefs regarding religion or other factors so they prohibit gambling. So they prohibit or even no gambling. I think this is a common problem. CMIIW

[Agbamoni]

UK, France, Germany, Ital, Spain Netherland, etc are all European countries. They are about 19 in number if not more than but yet you speak about 1 country in Europe which is UK. Let me bring this to your attention, there are countries that prefer having many online casinos over physical casino for several reasons, I do not know. This does not make them an underdog in the gambling industry. Most online casinos originated from Europe, few in Asia and less from the African continent.

[Charles-Tim]

Other countries only tend to focus on the negative sides of gambling and go out to ban it completely and doesn't want to take advantage of the possible profit from gambling. This statement sums it up pretty well: If you prohibit something technology has made available and convenient, you don't eliminate demand. You simply export the revenue.

There are many countries that legalize gambling in Europe, not just United Kingdom and Malta. Only what you can say is that some many have stricter regulations and UK is among them that has very strict regulations.

UK, France, Germany, Ital, Spain Netherland, etc are all European countries. They are about 19 in number if not more than but yet you speak about 1 country in Europe which is UK.

What I know before is that there are 50 or 51 countries in Europe, but 44 countries have capital in the continent.

[Agbamoni]

What I know before is that there are 50 or 51 countries in Europe, but 44 have capital in the continent.

Good that you know. But like I said earlier, there could be more but I am more familiar with the 19 countries and it will be lame to list all the 19 in one sentence as it is not the main point of the discussion.

[giammangiato]

When we talk about booming gambling industry, one may think of USA or Macau immediately. But neither of these countries are in Europe. I do not think that Europe is the first thought of tourists if they want to gamble or at least I don't. I can only think of one place in Europe I would want to visit and gamble in and that's the Monte Carlo Casino. But Europe may be going under the radar when it comes to the gambling industry.

I know Malta very well. Until 32 years ago, it was a quiet area, but at the beginning of its rapid growth, over the last 30 years, thanks to the licensing of gambling and the commercial port, it has grown enormously.
It has hit its strengths to grow rapidly, subsequently expanding into other activities.
During my trips to Malta, I met people who were there not to visit Malta but simply to go to the casino and enjoy a few days' vacation.
During the day, they spent time at the beach and eating, and in the evening they visited the casino. This has given a good boost in terms of percentages to Europe, but other European countries are no less, having understood the huge profitability of gambling.
The trend is upward; even small villages have opened bingo halls in my area, which means there is great demand for this sector.

[Hewlet]

If you prohibit something technology has made available and convenient, you don't eliminate demand. You simply export the revenue.

the countries that ban gambling don't do so while considering the effect of revenue generation they might stand to lose by their action, the major consideration is always about them not being a gambling friendly country and hence the desire to either completely take out any form of gambling out of there nation maybe officially even if it will mean that they will lose a certain percentage of revenue that they would have gotten from that sector.  Europe has a less strict regulation on gambling because of the popularity of gambling in that region but apart from that region, across Africa, the popularity of gambling is increasing at a rapid pace even though i tis not being recognized as part of the strong gambling hubs in the world

[danherbias07]

Nicely said on that last part.

I agree with it. It doesn't need to be eradicated because it can just cause chaos. What they should do is try to take advantage of it. Regulate it, offer more jobs to their people to get more support, and just be practical and accept that this is the new era of the gambling industry.
Putting a wall would just create another problem, and that's when they make this business illegal, or their people use other means to gamble, which will have no profits for the government.

About the question, Europe may be the underdog of the gambling industry, but the sports industry is booming. I think they will just have to find a way to take advantage of injecting gambling into it.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

As other countries continue to strengthen their restrictions on gambling, Europe is instead benefitting heavily from it.

There are still so many countries where gambling is legal compare to the few numbers of country that made it illegal and another thing is that, maybe most of these other countries can not be like Europe that has a large gambling market size which generates billion of revenue every years. I was reading an article that say they will near €122 billion size this year. If they have an economy system that is working fine, then gambling can still be in favor of many people in the country and the government uses the revenue it gets to establish the country more.

[Adbitco]

Europe can't be the underdog of gambling industry, infact it's realistic to say that modern betting even originated from the United Kingdom. I think there are more gamblers in the UK than any other parts of the world considering the fact that their population is less than the whole of USA. In US the main gambling area with lots of Casinos is mainly Los Vegas and they have this slogan, "whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" but almost the whole of UK is filled with gambling companies.

[EluguHcman]

Other countries only tend to focus on the negative sides of gambling and go out to ban it completely and doesn't want to take advantage of the possible profit from gambling. This statement sums it up pretty well: If you prohibit something technology has made available and convenient, you don't eliminate demand. You simply export the revenue.

Forget all that friendly regulations and the system of driving benefits strategy of the European in gambling.
In so many of those unfriendly or highily restricted gambling regions are mostly triggered by the exhibitions of the gamblers.

The essence that determines the regulatory system is basically of the governments conducting their citizens including residence to be responsible gamblers or totally denying them access to gamble if the system is abused while the gamblers who are negatively victimized are not bothered about the effects. I think what is best for the government to do is to place restrictions or regulations that would keep the people in good health.

I am either not having any plans of gambling in Europe if I eventually find myself there. Perhaps best entertainment does not only come from gambling so we can still all do it without gambling. I have got no much plans for gambling as well so no need crying out.

[Promocodeudo]

There are still so many countries where gambling is legal compare to the few numbers of country that made it illegal and another thing is that, maybe most of these other countries can not be like Europe that has a large gambling market size which generates billion of revenue every years. I was reading an article that say they will near €122 billion size this year. If they have an economy system that is working fine, then gambling can still be in favor of many people in the country and the government uses the revenue it gets to establish the country more.

The thing is Europe generate tax through this gambling firms and I think thats a very smart and wise idea, those countries that ban gambling or will I say restrict gambling firm activities have their own reason too but we knew individual countries policy differs and religion plays a major role on that, i think this idea of getting revenue from gambling is a good one, €122 billion size you said, that's huge, your conclusions are right, when an economy is really in good state everything works perfectly, the government of this European countries are wise, they license gambling firms, they pay their tax through which the government generate revenue for running the affairs of the country isn't that, I think some country should emulate this as far as they can be able to put laws that the companies can operate with.

[TravelMug]

Europe can't be the underdog of gambling industry, infact it's realistic to say that modern betting even originated from the United Kingdom. I think there are more gamblers in the UK than any other parts of the world considering the fact that their population is less than the whole of USA. In US the main gambling area with lots of Casinos is mainly Los Vegas and they have this slogan, "whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" but almost the whole of UK is filled with gambling companies.

And if I'm not mistaken, some of the richest on let's say in England, their line of business is gambling. Maybe it's because that we haven't heard of Europe with regards to gambling, but it's one of the biggest as well, sort of they are in low key. I also saw some videos on those Americans that have been suspected of card counting and so once the casinos realized that they have this person inside then obviously they will be kick out. But what this players do is to travel in Europe and continue to do their thing as they are not recognized and slip under the radar and win some. So yes, I think Europe is one of the biggest gambling industry outside of US and Macau and it should not be branded as the underdog.

[TopTort777]

Imho we should consider each country separately for attractiveness for gambling. Its wrong to consider that USA and Macao are the only places where gambling is most popular. Macao is only a region in China. We dont say that China is a top place for gambling. China is famous for much more. Same is with USA. Gambling is popular not in whole USA, but in Las Vegas mostly. So is Europe really an underdog of gambling industry? Absolutely not. People dont go to Europe for gambling, their goal is something different. If people would start visiting Europe for gambling, Europe would adopt to that and create more casinos.

Imho we cant make comparisons like what is written in topic name and make such conclusion. Or I can produce same ideas - Maldives are underdog of gambling industry. However people dont go to Maldives to gamble.

[purple_sparkles]

And if I'm not mistaken, some of the richest on let's say in England, their line of business is gambling. Maybe it's because that we haven't heard of Europe with regards to gambling, but it's one of the biggest as well, sort of they are in low key. I also saw some videos on those Americans that have been suspected of card counting and so once the casinos realized that they have this person inside then obviously they will be kick out. But what this players do is to travel in Europe and continue to do their thing as they are not recognized and slip under the radar and win some. So yes, I think Europe is one of the biggest gambling industry outside of US and Macau and it should not be branded as the underdog.

We know about casinos and gambling in the USA movies. I think that, for example, the American gambling industry simply did a better job with its PR, they created massive media buzz to attract a large number of clients, which is why their casinos are known all over the world. The same can’t be said about casinos and betting companies in Europe, they chose a different strategy for themselves.

[Dunamisx]

UK, France, Germany, Ital, Spain Netherland, etc are all European countries. They are about 19 in number if not more than but yet you speak about 1 country in Europe which is UK. Let me bring this to your attention, there are countries that prefer having many online casinos over physical casino for several reasons, I do not know. This does not make them an underdog in the gambling industry. Most online casinos originated from Europe, few in Asia and less from the African continent.

I don't know if what OP was intending is to portray in terms of percentage how European countries including UK has been found with less gambling activities compared to other continents, this may be accurate and may not, depending on if there is statistical data backing it up or not, gambling is not just what we can calculate by how we feels for underdogs, it has to be base on facts and proofs, gambling is everywhere and there may be more reasons to include other factor in making determination for which continent is underdog in gambling,