2020 was a difficult year for many businesses. So, how did Europe’s gaming revenue fare over the year? While the overall gambling revenue in Europe dropped, online gaming activities actually increased. Let us take a closer look at the numbers.
What was Europe’s overall gaming revenue in 2020?
Like many other industries in 2020, the gaming sector in Europe saw much disruption last year. Although that was to be expected, as many land-based casinos were not operating and many sports events were cancelled, the drop in gaming revenue in Europe alone is a significant one. According to figures published by the European Gaming and Betting Association, the total gambling revenue for Europe in 2020 fell by 23%. In 2019, Europe’s gross gaming revenue was ?98.6 billion, whereas, in 2020, it was ?75.9 billion.
A Closer Look at the Numbers
The data published in the European Gaming and Betting Association’s report covers the United Kingdom market and the European Union’s twenty-seven countries. When the figures are broken down into online and offline gambling revenue sectors, you can see that land-based gambling revenues dropped by a massive 33%, from ?74.1 billion in 2019 to ?49.6bn in 2020. That was largely due to land-based establishments being closed in 2020.
However, despite a significant drop in online gaming revenue in quarter two of 2020, mainly because of sports events being cancelled, online gaming actually saw a revenue increase in 2020. It increased by 7%, from ?24.5 billion in 2019 to ?26.3 billion the following year. That makes sense. After all, with the closure of land-based casinos and the cancellation of sporting events, more gamers turned to online options, such as playing games at a live casino, where you play games like poker or roulette online with croupiers in real-time.
What is the future of Europe’s online gaming revenue?
The growth of Europe’s online gaming market looks set to continue into 2021 and beyond. It is predicted that the gross revenue of the market will grow by around 7% each year and reach 33.6% of Europe’s total gaming revenue by the year 2025.
It is also predicted that mobile devices will continue to increase in popularity for betting online. Mobile betting accounted for around 45.6% of Europe’s online gambling revenue in 2020 and it is forecast to reach 50.8% by 2022 and 58.2% by 2025.
A Closer Look at Online Gaming Statistics
Looking at the European Gaming and Betting Association’s members, more insights can be gleaned about things like market value, licensing, sports investments, and regulatory compliance. The gaming platforms that are part of the European Gaming and Betting Association had a total of 16 million online customers in 2020. Other key findings include:
- 1.8 million customer accounts were closed due to illegal activities like match-fixing concerns and other types of fraud.
- 63% of online gamers used at least one safer gambling option, which is an increase from 37% in 2019. And gambling operators conducted 1.2 million direct interventions to promote safer gambling with customers in 2020, which was a 50% increase from 2019.
- Online operators invested ?340 million in European sports, via ?107 million in sponsorships and ?233million in streaming rights, which is an increase of 56% from 2019.
- A total of 145 online gambling licenses were granted throughout 17 European countries.
Only time will tell how Europe’s gaming industry will fare in the coming years. Land-based gambling establishments and live sports could still be significantly affected in 2021 and beyond. But one thing seems certain: more and more Europeans are turning to online gaming.
