Online Casino Market: A Guide for New Casino Owners

The online casino market is growing fast, and the data backs that up from more than one direction. Grand View Research values the global online gambling market at $88.0 billion in 2025, on its way to $202.8 billion by 2033. Mordor Intelligence, using a different methodology and forecast window, puts it at $121.9 billion in 2026, growing to $212.0 billion by 2031. The exact totals differ because the two firms count things differently, but the direction does not: this market is expanding at a double digit annual rate, and it has been for years. If you are planning to open an online casino, the numbers below are the market you are walking into, not a guess.

How big is the online casino market right now?

Independent research firms broadly agree the online gambling market is in a sustained growth phase, even though their exact figures differ by methodology. Grand View Research valued the global online gambling market at $88.0 billion in 2025, projecting it to reach $202.8 billion by 2033, an 11.0% compound annual growth rate for 2026 to 2033.

Mordor Intelligence estimates the market a little higher, at $121.9 billion for 2026, growing to $212.0 billion by 2031 at a 11.99% CAGR. The two firms use different base years and forecast windows, which is why their totals do not line up exactly, but the pace and direction of growth are consistent across both.

For a US focused owner, the more useful comparison is between online (iGaming) and landbased revenue. The American Gaming Association reported $78.7 billion in total US commercial gaming revenue for 2025, a sixth straight record year. Its Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker for May 2026 breaks that total down by segment and shows a clear pattern: landbased casino gaming brought in roughly $4.68 billion for the month, up 4.5% year over year; iGaming brought in $1.03 billion, up 14.7% year over year; and sports betting brought in $1.34 billion, down 1.8% as unregulated prediction markets pulled some of that volume away. In other words, iGaming grew about three times faster than landbased casino revenue that month. Physical casinos still generate more total dollars, but online is the fastest growing part of the industry by a wide margin.

Could online casino revenue overtake landbased revenue in the US?

Not soon, but the gap is closing faster than most people assume. iGaming is growing several times faster than landbased casino revenue, and compound growth adds up quickly once you run the math out past a single month. The calculator below uses the same May 2026 AGA figures from above, a $1.03 billion iGaming base and a $4.68 billion landbased base, and projects both forward at whatever annual growth rates you set.

Who plays at online casinos?

The United States currently holds the largest single country share of the global online gambling market. Beyond the US, the UK, Germany, China, India, Brazil and South Africa are named as other major or fast emerging markets, with South Africa cited as the largest online gambling market in Africa.

The UK is especially mature: over 40% of UK adults already participate in some form of online betting, and the UK Gambling Commission separately reports that 47% of British adults gambled in some form, online or offline, in the past four weeks, based on a survey covering January 2025 to January 2026. Germany's growth is tied to its 2021 gambling law reform, which legalized and regulated online casino products for the first time.

Grand View Research's regional breakdown frames its forecast around a single split: Europe holds 41.0% of global online gambling revenue as the largest market, while Asia Pacific is named as the fastest growing region through 2033. Mordor Intelligence takes a more granular view, grading every region on a high, medium or low growth scale. North America lands in the "high" tier, consistent with the 16.58% CAGR the firm reports for that region, while Europe holds 49.25% of 2025 revenue as the clear largest market. Both firms agree Europe is today's largest market and that growth is broad based worldwide. They simply disagree on which region is growing fastest: Grand View Research points to Asia Pacific, Mordor Intelligence points to North America.

On age, Mordor Intelligence's breakdown shows players aged 35 to 44 hold the largest share of the online gambling market, at roughly 30.22%. The 25 to 34 age group is the fastest growing segment, projected to expand at a 14.59% CAGR through 2031, and 18 to 24 is also growing as more markets legalize mobile wagering for young adults.

Gender is harder to source responsibly. Grand View Research, Mordor Intelligence and the UK Gambling Commission do not publish a current, consistent, country by country gender breakdown specific to online play. Treat any precise "X% are men" claim you see elsewhere with caution unless it names an exact survey and date. This is a genuine gap in public data, not something being glossed over.

Device use is one of the more measurable behavioral splits, though the two research firms frame it a little differently: Mordor Intelligence reports mobile and tablet devices already capture 57.14% of online gambling revenue, growing at a 14.65% CAGR, while Grand View Research says desktop still led on revenue share in 2025 even as mobile usage expands quickly. Game type preference varies by report too. Grand View Research's data shows sports betting taking the largest share of online gambling revenue at about 50%, while Mordor Intelligence instead shows casino games as the largest slice, at 50.12%, a reminder that "online gambling" reports do not always segment sports betting, casino, poker and lottery the same way. On the regulatory side, the UK Gambling Commission found that 30% of young people aged 11 to 17 said they had spent their own money on gambling in the past 12 months, based on a survey covering January to June 2025, a figure new operators should weigh carefully in any marketing that could reach youth adjacent channels.

Where does this market data come from?

Several institutes and organizations track the online gambling industry closely, and each one answers a different question. New owners should get familiar with all three types before quoting a number in a business plan.

Government and state regulators publish the most reliable, compliance grade numbers, but only for their own jurisdiction. The UK Gambling Commission is Britain's statutory gambling regulator, publishing the Gambling Survey for Great Britain and industry statistics on market value, participation and problem gambling indicators. In the US, the Nevada Gaming Control Board runs the longest running official gaming revenue series in the country, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement publishes monthly revenue broken out by landbased, online casino and sports betting, and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board does the same for one of the largest US iGaming markets. The Malta Gaming Authority regulates one of the world's largest hubs for licensed online operators, though it publishes licensee registers and compliance data rather than market size statistics.

Industry and trade associations advocate for their members but still publish useful aggregate data. The American Gaming Association publishes the Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker and the annual State of the States report for the US market. The European Gaming and Betting Association publishes EU market data, often citing H2 Gambling Capital. The Betting and Gaming Council does the same for the UK, focused on economic contribution and jobs.

Independent research and forecasting firms are what most of the numbers in this guide come from. H2 Gambling Capital is a UK based market intelligence firm many operators, banks and regulators treat as the industry benchmark, forecasting gambling revenue across 150 plus markets since 1998. Grand View Research and Mordor Intelligence are both US and India based market research firms publishing their own independent online gambling sizing, forecasts and segmentation, which is why their totals differ even when their conclusions agree. Vixio, formerly GamblingCompliance, tracks regulatory and legislative change rather than market sizing.

Trade media rounds this out. iGaming Business runs a dedicated Data and Insight hub, aggregating dashboards and analysis pulled from the regulators and research firms above. If you only read one type of source, read the government regulator for your target market first. It is the only one with legal teeth behind its numbers.

How do you market to online casino players?

Understanding the market is only half the job. Reaching the right players in a compliant way is the other half, and it depends heavily on the age groups and devices covered above. For a full breakdown of white hat, grey hat and black hat marketing channels, plus the audience data and analytics tools operators use to track campaigns, see our guide on how to market your own online casino.

What's the bottom line for a new operator?

Two independent research firms, using different methods, both land on the same conclusion: the online casino market is growing at a double digit annual rate, and it is not close to slowing down. In the US specifically, iGaming is outgrowing landbased casino revenue by a wide margin every month the AGA reports on it. The player base skews toward the 25 to 44 age range, leans mobile, and is concentrated in Europe today with North America and Asia Pacific closing the gap fastest, depending on which firm's forecast you trust.

None of that data builds a casino on its own. If you are ready to act on it, see how to start a white label casino for the fastest path to launch, or go straight to pricing to see what it costs to get a platform live in this market.