SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The European Gambling and Betting Association (EGBA) has published its ‘Key Figures 2022 Report’, providing a snapshot on the performance and prevalence of gambling across European jurisdictions.
The macro report, co-authored by H2 Gambling Report, details a return to stabilised trading for Europe’s gambling market, generating combined gross gaming revenues (GGR) of €108,5bn reflecting an “an 8% increase compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019 and a 23% rise compared to 2021”.
As expected, growth was attributed to a significant rebound witnessed by land-based gambling venues reopening, as the segment generated a GGR increase of 34% to €70,3bn in 2022, accounting for 65% of total gambling revenue.
Further positives saw online gambling revenues increase by 8% to €38,2bn GRR, reflective of 35% of Europe’s total gambling revenue recorded during 2022.
Generating €14.9bn GGR, online casino is recognised as the industry’s most popular product, closely contested by online sportsbook, which recorded a combined 2022 GGR of €13.6bn.
Geographically, Sweden was recognised as the nation with the highest share (80%) of its gambling activity taking place online, followed by Latvia (75%), Lithuania (67%), Romania (65%) and the UK (65%).
Meanwhile, the snapshot report noted that countries such as Spain, Italy, Germany and France continue to have “a relatively low online share of their respective gambling markets.”
A breakdown of data provided by EGBA Members operating across the UK and EU’s 27 markets revealed a combined online GGR of €11.6bn – “accounting for 33% of Europe’s total online gambling revenue that year.”
2022 saw EGBA members service 29.8m customers, as operators processed over €111bn online wagers, generating a perceived value of €202.9bn.
Recorded payouts saw EGBA members return €191,3bn back to customers in winnings, corresponding to a return-to-player (RTP) rate of circa 94.3%.
“Europe’s gambling market began to stabilise this year following the unprecedented upheaval and disruption of the pandemic.” – commented Maarten Haijer, Secretary General, EGBA.
“While the steady upward trend of online gambling continues, land-based gambling is now rebounding from the widespread shutdowns of casinos and betting shops during the past two years.”
