ShareThe European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has posted mixed figures about the continent’s gambling industry. In its annual report, it was highlighted that although 2021 will likely see a small improvement over 2020 for total gambling revenue, this is still well below 2019 results.
Revenue Predictions for European Gambling
Last week, the EGBA posted its predictions about the European gambling industry for the coming years. The Twitter post detailed how the future is possibly bright but there is still work to do to return to pre-covid levels.📊 EGBA has published its annual end-of-year European gambling market data report in partnership with @H2Gamble 👉 https://t.co/CFZU9AXSJT Key findings (thread) 👇 pic.twitter.com/GjlJ4FUWva
— EGBA (@EUgambling) December 22, 2021
This year’s performance is predicted to end the year at a total of €87.2bn, up from €81.1bn, a 7.5% increase. This improvement, while still welcome, still falls far from 2019’s €100.6bn.
The model predicts that 2022 will be the start of a five-year steady rise in revenue with 2026 seeing €126.3bn coming into the coffers.
Interestingly, when these figures are broken down into land-based operations and online sites the numbers show a clear pattern we might expect to see in the modern age.
For land-based gambling, only a 0.4% increase is expected at the end of 2021, a massive 31.8% drop from 2019. Even with a predicted steady improvement from 2022, 2026 is still likely to be down from 2019.
Online businesses, on the other hand, show that smartphones and tablets are definitely pushing the gambling industry in that direction. Both 2020 and 2021 saw an increase in revenue from 2019, with 2026 predicted to be double 2019’s figure.
This change is marked by 2021 being the first year in history where more bets were placed online compared to in land-based businesses. This is 50.5% of all bets, a statistic expected to rise to 61.5% by 2026.
And now to our members' European market data.....
— EGBA (@EUgambling) December 22, 2021
REVENUE
🎲 Our members had a combined €10.9bn in online gambling GGR, representing 36% of Europe’s total online gambling revenue. pic.twitter.com/inK7zF8KJR
Maarten Haijer, Secretary General, EGBA, said in a statement: “The growth trend of Europe’s online gambling market continues but there remains significant room for online development in markets, such as France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, where the online share of the total gambling market is still relatively low despite the online markets in these countries being relatively mature.“
“With continued online growth also comes the responsibility to ensure the online market is well-regulated and operators continue to utilize the latest online technologies to promote a stronger culture of safer gambling.”
