Different sources have been ripe with news over the past few years as major change is occurring in the iGaming space, whether it’s the growth of new markets as is being seen across the US with changes to sports betting, or a crackdown on certain existing markets with Europe and the UK in particular as gambling commissions look to issue further change. Despite this, there are markets that continue to perform extremely well – but when looking at online gambling size, which markets are the biggest and show the most promise, and which are currently seeing the most change?
Europe
Whilst it may seem somewhat disingenuous to use Europe as a market by itself given the number of countries that contribute to the statistics here, European iGaming is far and away the most evolved across any market as both online casinos and online sportsbooks are equally legal and accepted too. Not only does this mean the European iGaming market is the biggest by volume, but also by the amount of choice there is to play as restrictions are fewer and far between and recent crackdowns are more aimed at how certain games perform rather than restricting access entirely to players.
Asia
The largest market by player numbers but does come in much smaller than the European market largely because of non-consumer friendly gambling laws across many of the countries represented across Asia. There’s still a large amount of restriction as gambling remains illegal across many Asian countries with the only exception largely coming from some sportsbook options, and whilst there is the hint of change it may be some time before the Asian market can compare to the much more open and much easier to access European market where iGaming as a whole is much more widely accepted and boasts more legal options too.
North America
For many, this is currently the most exciting market to follow as major change is occurring – whilst currently the focus is on the different variety of sportsbooks as 30 of the 50 states have legalized online sports betting in some way, online casinos are yet to see much change. Canada has also chimed in here with provinces able to govern their own laws that will see both sportsbooks and online casinos emerge, but based on current volumes and figures seen, this could be one of the most lucrative too. New York for example was able to see nearly $4 billion in sportsbook wagers just five weeks after launching, showing how promising iGaming can be across North America.
It’s an exciting time for iGaming services and there’s a lot of change on the horizon yet, but as public attitudes towards online gambling as a whole become more favorable and the services start to change too, it seems the only way for the market to go is up with ever increasing forecasts and predictions.