Unregulated Online Gambling Reaches $5.9 Trillion in 2025
Global Unregulated Online Gambling Reaches $5.9 Trillion in 2025 – Report Highlights Scale Outside Regulatory Oversight
Key Takeaways
- Unregulated online gambling wagering volume reached $5.9 trillion in 2025, up from $5.7 trillion in 2024.
- Illegal operators accounted for an estimated 78% of worldwide online gaming gross gaming revenue.
- The report covers online gambling only and excludes retail betting shops and land based casinos.
- Prediction markets represented 8.7% of unregulated online sportsbook revenue and 0.2% of legal US sports betting profitability.
- Unregulated gambling appeared on more than 80% of illegal sports streams in the United States and Britain in 2024 and 2025.
Unregulated Online Gambling Volume Continues to Grow
Global unregulated online gambling reached a wagering volume of $5.9 trillion in 2025, according to a new report released by Gaming Compliance International, or GCI. The figure marks a 4% increase from $5.7 trillion in 2024 and extends growth from $5.1 trillion in 2023.
The study focuses exclusively on online gambling activity. It does not include retail betting shops or land based casinos. GCI defines unregulated gambling as unlicensed products marketed to local users. This includes sports betting, online casinos, poker, lotteries, crypto gambling, and prediction markets.
To estimate betting turnover and gross gaming revenue, GCI used automated surveillance systems combined with manual analysis. Based on these methods, the firm estimates that illegal operators account for approximately 78% of worldwide online gaming gross gaming revenue.
GCI Chief Executive Matt Holt said the size of the sector places it among the largest economic systems globally, operating largely outside regulatory oversight. According to the report, the majority of online gambling activity now takes place beyond licensed environments.
Three Market Segments: Regulated, Unregulated, and Unacknowledged
The report introduces a three part structure of the online gambling ecosystem. It distinguishes between regulated, unregulated, and what it calls unacknowledged segments.
The unacknowledged category includes social casinos, sweepstakes models, skins trading, TikTok contests, and prediction markets. According to GCI, these products often replicate gambling mechanics but are not always formally classified as gambling.
GCI President Ismail Vali said the boundaries between these segments have become increasingly blurred from a consumer perspective. As more products integrate betting mechanics, users experience what he describes as a single marketplace where different forms of wagering compete alongside each other.
For users of crypto betting platforms and international sportsbooks, this structure illustrates how products that may not be labeled as gambling can still function in similar ways. The classification also highlights how regulatory treatment can vary depending on jurisdiction and product type.
Prediction Markets Gain Share in Unregulated Sportsbooks
Prediction markets receive particular attention in the report. In the United States, they are regulated as financial products by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Outside the US, however, GCI counts them as unregulated gambling where no specific gambling license applies.
GCI estimates that around $3.1 billion in prediction market trading volume was tied to the Super Bowl and related events earlier this year. Within the regulated US market, prediction platforms account for 0.2% of legal sports betting profitability.
In contrast, on the unregulated side, prediction style products already represent 8.7% of unregulated online sportsbook revenue. This difference illustrates how product positioning and regulatory classification can significantly influence market share.
Regulatory responses vary by country. Brazil recently blocked 28 prediction market platforms after declaring such markets illegal. In Gibraltar, authorities moved in the opposite direction and licensed their first regulated prediction market operator earlier this year.
Illegal Streaming and Offshore Growth Add Pressure
The report also identifies illegal sports streaming as a driver of black market gambling growth. According to GCI, unregulated gambling advertisements or links appeared on more than 80% of illegal sports streams in the United States and Britain during 2024 and 2025.
GCI warns that the combination of prediction markets and illegal streaming could further accelerate black market gambling expansion in 2026.
Separate research cited in the report context, published by H2 Gambling Capital, estimated that the British offshore gambling market reached 16.6 billion pounds, or $22 billion, in 2025. This compares with 5 billion pounds, or $6.6 billion, in 2019, indicating significant growth over that period.
At the same time, governments in Australia and Britain are moving toward tighter restrictions on gambling advertising. These policy developments occur against a backdrop in which, according to GCI, most online gambling activity already sits outside the regulated perimeter.
Implications for Regulation and Market Oversight
GCI states that regulators are no longer confronting a marginal issue. Instead, the report argues that unregulated activity represents the dominant share of the online gambling ecosystem.
For international users comparing crypto betting platforms or sportsbooks, the findings underline the scale of activity occurring outside formal licensing systems. The report shows that a wide range of products, from traditional online casinos to crypto gambling and prediction markets, are included in the unregulated category when they operate without local authorization.
The data also indicates that new formats such as prediction markets are becoming more integrated into both regulated and unregulated environments, with differing legal classifications across jurisdictions.
Our Assessment
The GCI report documents sustained growth in unregulated online gambling, with wagering volume reaching $5.9 trillion in 2025 and illegal operators accounting for 78% of global online gaming gross gaming revenue. It identifies prediction markets and illegal sports streaming as significant components of this ecosystem and highlights varying regulatory responses in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Gibraltar, Australia, and Britain. The findings indicate that most online gambling activity currently takes place outside licensed systems, reshaping the balance between regulated and unregulated markets.
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