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Global online gambling regulations have been a subject to drastic changes and shifts over the last few years when it comes to different continents. This part will summarize and comment on these changes focusing on each continent.
The ever-evolving world of online gambling is continuously adapting to new trends and legislative adjustments, which emerge on a yearly basis. Operators of such sites, affiliates as well as the player community will have to be familiar with and prepared for the latest changes.
Europe
Europe has moved for a long time ahead of gambling online regulation and possesses some of the highest regulations. Despite the fact that the European Union (EU) takes the main regulatory role, each member State has its own national legislature.
The EU Gambling Act of 2014 introduces a set of regulations that cover licensing and taxes. Among other things, it highlights consumer protection and responsible gambling matter. Member countries can also supplement these EU standards with their own individual regulations.
In 2024, online gaming revenue in Europe might touch US$46.92 billion and the annual increase of 11 percent could also be forecast. It cannot be overlooked that there are a number of new jurisdictions within Europe which are now at the stages of liberalization i.e. Spain (2021), Germany (2021), Sweden (2019) and Italy (2019) and will likely continue to flourish. It is the reason that these markets are so fresh and untapped. But over the long run, the market growth is worth expecting. Nevertheless, the uncertain economic situation could prevent the iGaming scene in much of Europe to thrive, in spite of the excellent prospects.
Now, look at these main marketplaces in Europe.
In Great Britain, the net gambling income of online gambling facilities is estimated at £5.4 billion (6.9 billion dollars), which is mainly attributed to the online casinos, almost £3.2 billion (4.1 billion dollars) and sports betting, more than £1.9 billion (2.41 billion dollars). Against the background of stricter rules and payment of the tax by operators to treat gambling addicts, the market is estimated to expand at a CAGR of 6.7% (yearly). The UK Gambling Commission is responsible for regulating gaming operators in British isles and it has responsible gambling as a core focusing area. The UKGC also looks forward to more regulations to ensure players’ protection.
With Germany, the revenue of the online gambling market should reach 5.65 billion dollars in 2024, which will be equally divided among online casinos, lotteries, and sports betting. So-called online games with gambling features were officially sanctioned with the Interstate Treaty 2021 and a new regulatory organ, Joint Gambling Supervisory Authority (GGL), has been set up to centralize regulation. Yet, the issuance of licenses is highly dependent on the laws of different states, thus, resulting in differently varying regulations throughout the country.
In France, according to the forecasts, online gambling is predicted to reach US$4.12 billion in 2024 that focuses on sports betting and poker, because of bans of casino games online. ANJ is a regulatory body that governs gambling activities in an attempt to reduce the risk of fraud or to cheat the players, but the ban of online casinos has eventually resulted in a huge underground market. A bill, which was introduced in May 2023 of this year, supports the online casino sector to be legally in the hands of the existing state operators for 5 years and for the later opening of the market for the other gaming operators.
During 2024, in Italy, the forecasted yields related to online gambling is about US$3.21 billion; here online sports betting and online casinos are the primary forms of the online gambling. The Autonomous Administration of the State Monopolies (AAMS) is always issuing gaming licenses which shows their connection with the European values and cheating prevention through the advancement of responsible gaming policies.
Finally, Spanish online gambling will likely grow up to US$1.97 billion by the end of 2024 primarily through sports betting and sustained by tax cuts on game operators. The General Directorate for Gambling Regulation (DGOJ) has control over licensing at the national level, but in recent years, restrictions have been imposed with particular regard to marketing and promotions.
North America
American gambling laws online are not straightforward, and they incessantly change. In recent times, this country has witnessed a surge in legislation which legalizes gambling. More States every day are lifting restrictions to legality and the gaining of tax revenue.
Legal aspects of online gaming vary between the states and have created meshes of controlling policies. As the regulations for gambling differ from state to state, online gaming operators must validate a player’s locality before they can let him or her place any bet.
While the U.S. iGaming sector has been dealing with a number of complex issues, there are a number of factors which show that it is in a good position. Being the technology leader since the internet age and the current global leader of balanced regulatory practices with technology underpinning as their change driver, the US is in a good position to experience considerable growth in iGaming. To draw an analogy, nearly all analysts had already warned that the United States would lead the charge for global iGaming online gambling, and this has been estimated to be between 20 and 25 percent growth in 2023. Many analysts, who have analyzed the situation, project a growth of almost two-fold for 2024 by the high increase rate of between 15% – 20%. This shows that these numbers surpass even the majority of other worlds’ GDP figures.
Such growth puts it into perspective as the U.S. is clearly much ahead in this respect, largely because it acts as a technological and regulatory leader in this field. Sport betting is the one big thing, and the companies are ready to spend all their reserves to get the desired market share. For instance, ESPN BET solution which debuted in Nov 2023, manages to grab attention and is able to own up to an impressive market share, up to 11%, within the first month. We will most likely encounter fierce rivalry throughout 2024.
The Canadian federal law has not been fully implemented in the entire country. Instead, the provinces were left to decide their gaming regulations and enact them. We’ve seen this happening someplace else, and it made the provinces of the country do mixed reviews on this matter. Ontario, Manitoba and Quebec have largely legalized iGaming in its entirety, with relatively similar regulations as their U.S. counterparts. Meanwhile, other provinces, such as Alberta and British Columbia, remain unacquainted with iGaming; for now, they are not legalizing it.
The Canadian iGaming `revenues` growth rate is steady and it should reach an amount of US$4.29 billion in 2024. The main movement is online gambling that accounts for nearly 80% of the overall market. We anticipate further growth involving more online casinos gobbling their licenses and probably some provinces getting more amenable to gambling after all.
Asia
The gambling rules in most countries in Asia are very tight, with many countries either enforcing gambling bans as a whole or setting highly restrictive rules for gambling industry. This is [more] often brought about by the different societal attitudes towards gambling and the related issues of crime and addiction. Likely, there are some excuses for these rules, but several new tendencies that should be watched.
China's iGaming space can be distinguished as a clear stand out, mainly as public authorities are against gambling and play very technical roles in regulating the industry. Notwithstanding this, the Chinese iGaming market is expected to reach a score of US$15.7 billion in market volume by 2028. The regulatory framework is complicated enough, with a situation that most traditional gambling is prohibited. In contrast, the market is not of traditional lottery tickets or slots but of mobile apps and a find of digital scratch-off, which makes the environment unique among many gambling places. However, a fair proportion of government clampdown was enforced in 2023 to withstand any move that intends to impair the e-gaming sector growth due to the social issues and addiction concerns among the youth. On the other hand, there is room for the industry to grow larger in the subsequent year. The significant underground gambling Market in China may change the government's policy, instead of enforcing the restrictive measure they might choose to transform the online gaming field for the government benefits.
Only horse racing, cycling, and lotteries with special forms of gaming are allowed in South Korea as gambling regulations do. Casinos are banned under this law, with some exceptions, in the case of a single casino designed exclusively for foreign citizens. In spite of this, there are still offshore websites that are willingly giving online gambling and sports betting albeit on an illegal basis. The topic of legalizing casino gambling for the purpose of increasing tourism is not a new issue, but nevertheless people's opinions are split on this issue. This country shares the essence with China as one of the countries which contains a huge amount of informal sectors that are difficult to quantify accurately and evaluate.
Philippine is a home of various online betting platforms for the Filipinos and foreigners as their patrons. Policymakers have introduced the regulatory framework, that while moderate, provides a free space for the operators to operate and do their work effectively. This approach has not only contributed to the slow, steady pace of growth in the iGaming market but also opened up many more business avenues within the country.
Various other Asian countries such as Japan and Singapore fall mostly under the category of illegal iGaming. In spite of a healthy iGaming industry, with viable communities existing in that sector, the latter is shadowed by an illegal market. Online gambling platforms such as offshore or peer-to-peer platforms add to the list of money-oriented businesses that consume the country’s GDP, just like examples in the US during prohibition. Many of the Internet users in these locations go foreign sites and VPN in order to escape the tough rules of gambling which surrounds them, and is mostly a representation of the unquenched thirst for placing bets.
Latin America
Latin America has a unique and inspiring scene, which contains iGaming markets on the rise and population with enormous potential to guarantee a long-running growth. The most distinguished countries of South America have incorporated gambling of iGaming into their laws and put forward control and regulation of this industry with commitment of the different parties to success. Some research aimed at predicting such growth suggests the online gambling sector in Latin America will witness nearly a four-fold increase reaching an astounding US$6.7 billion in total by 2027. The findings of our assessment reveal Latin America to be the most potent location, anywhere on the world map, for iGaming growth probably.
Brazil formerly started its journey in the iGaming industry by sleep but now it takes the "The sleeping giant" in the realm of iGaming by providing legislative approval for online gambling and sports betting in July 2023. The 2018 sports betting regulations is being amended by the new act, specifying an increase in the tier of gaming and betting operators' tax revenues from 16% to 18%, so that the share of revenue from 3% can be allocated to the Ministry of Sports top-line. This investment testifies to a considered and resolute allocation of resources to this very industry. The bill also brought to life the National Secretariat for Games and Sports Betting to move the oversight and control of the iGaming sector to a higher level and ensure better results for players and operators. Applying tighter regulation into marketing and advertising likewise, will lead to the promotion of responsible gambling and those not compliant companies risk losing their permit, fines, or even revocation of license. The expected revenue of Brazilian online gambling is anticipated to be in the amount of US$1.97 billion in 2024, for it is supposed to increase by 16.51% yearly from 2024 to 2028. Nowadays, the online casinos take a bulking share of the revenues in Brazil, but on the other hand, the overwhelming popularity of sports in this country may bring about a similar profitability of sports betting in the near future.
After Mexico established a regulated iGaming industry, initiated in 2004, it turned out to remain short of the initially estimated sizes. Nevertheless, in 2020, there were a lot of dynamic changes in gambling that allowed giving the permission to private bodies to own the licenses of gambling. This progressive regulatory development will define the extent of the importation. Mexico is the second-biggest market of iGaming in Latin America after Brazil. According to experts in 2024, expect strong growth not only in the online casino but also to the expansion of other sectors like the hardware selling linked to gaming computers in online casinos. The online gambling legality in Colombia just emerged as the government has been granting operating licenses for online casinos, sports books, bingo and poker companies only since 2017. This resulted in accelerated growth of the market, particularly for local sports betting. Nevertheless, the figures present that the revenue of $1.287 billion is projected for online gambling in Colombia by 2024, which comes from sports betting, that is at $889.1 million. In the case of Colombia, a remarkable growth rate of about 11% is expected to continue, and this could easily establish another long-lasting and unyielding employee expansion tendency in the subsequent years.
Argentina’s legalization of online gaming along with the issuing of licenses to various online casinos and sportsbooks has enchanted some not so quiet turbulent growth. The causal result was that revenue produced annually by this sector measured US$2.4 billion in 2021. There was the signal of the sector's blossom because the 6-months long period saw a 273% increase in the revenues. The Argentinian market of these operators has expanded to become the second largest one. This has also resulted in the competitions getting tougher for them.
In addition, you should know that igaming regulation in Costa Rica is rather a matter of non-existence leaving the operators with full operational control and no restrictions. Indeed, Costa Rica made itself a real hot spot for iGaming, and its relevance is only growing over the recent years. Nevertheless, the higher level of regulation to stop money laundering and fraud in online gaming might possibly destabilize the sector.
Africa
The African gaming e-market is broken out to the biggest prospects with an expected revenue of US$1,85 billion in 2024 coming up. In the region the spectrum of gambling laws extends from legal to prohibiting activities, with participating countries proposing their own different approaches.
In several countries including Mayotte and Reunion Island, online gambling is regulated with rules that require either the citizens or the foreign operators to be licensed and implement certain management practices. At the same time, some countries mandate local gambling organizations to obtain licenses. However, foreign operators can give services to the locals as long as they follow the local regulations. It may be noted that the view with regard to online gambling in some African countries is still hazy. For instance, web gambling remains unregulated in many African nations including Ethiopia, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Sudan.
The industry of gambling in Africa benefited from a rapid expansion and the annual growth rate is assessed to be at 6.28 percent. International gambling businesses have seen the importance of the African market for its expansion as they now start to seek their ways into the continent. Such an intensifying growth can be envisaged to be a result of varied factors like unrestricted spread of mobile devices, widespread internet access and the introduction of favorable gambling laws and regulations by many African countries. The most active gambling ground in Africa remains South Africa which is estimated to contribute 40-50 percent or even more of all gambling revenues. Nigeria runs the second biggest online gaming market which speeds up really fast. Furthermore, the market is noted to be in the growth state and some countries such as Kenya and Ghana, have witnessed the entry of betting platforms and online players on a mass scale.
The outlook for Africa in the immediate succession after 2024 is very promising, as many economies of Africa are predicted to maintain long-term growth transcending the projections of many analysts, with a background of a conducive period for most economies.
Oceania
It is expected that the online gambling sector of Oceania will likely reach a size of USD 11.39 billion by 2024 consistently propelled by sports betting activities in Australia and New Zealand as the anticipated average annual sales growth stands at 5.22%.
Australians have widely accepted this digital gambling, with the average expenditure per gambler in Australia being $1,237 annually. Online sports betting, racing and lottery are the activities allowed by the government. This makes total revenue to reach $10.14 billion in 2024 with an annual increase of 5.12%. However, the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 (IGA) has positioned the Australian based gaming operators away from providing online casino games to their players while offshore top online casinos catering to Australian players [3] operators who are not limited by the Act have taken advantage of this. Attempts to take steps against problem gambling feature reforms like credit cards blocking from betting, compulsory constant messaging on gambling risks, and responsible gaming assessment for industry personnel.
This regulation appears in New Zealand as well and reflects in the limitation for domestic providers to offer online casino games, yet the restriction permits the amenity to the offshore providers to render these games to New Zealand players. Lotto New Zealand (Lotto NZ) and TAB New Zealand (MyTAB) are the only operators that are licensed to offer a legal online gambling experience within the country. In 2024, the New Zealand gaming market online is expected to touch US$1.25 billion with a growth rate of 6.03% per annum, a situation poised to change with future regulations that carry a promise for the industry with hopes for greater growth in the market.