The gambling sector feels the impact of COVID-19 – Safer gambling

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January 1, 1970 0 189

Online gambling will take a higher share of Europe’s gambling market revenue this year but will not compensate for major land-based declines, as total market revenue plummets due to COVID-19.

Brussels, Today – Europe’s total gambling revenue will drop 23% this year – from €98.6bn gross gaming revenue (GGR[1]) in 2019 to €75.9bn in 2020 – as the gambling sector feels the impact of COVID-19, according to new data published by the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) in partnership with H2 Gambling Capital.

The data, covering EU-27 and UK markets, forecasts Europe’s online gambling revenue to increase by 7% this year – from €24.5bn GGR in 2019 to €26.3bn in 2020 – despite a significant drop in online revenue during Q2 as a result of the cancellation of major European sports. However, this will not compensate for Europe’s major land-based declines, with land-based gambling revenue expected to drop by 33% this year – from €74.1bn GGR in 2019 to €49.6bn in 2020 – due to the shuttering of land-based establishments.

Growth in online continues, with mobile betting increasingly popular
Looking ahead, the steady growth of Europe’s online gambling market is expected to continue, with online GGR expected to grow approximately 7% yearly and reach 33.6% of Europe’s total gambling revenue by 2025. Another noticeable trend expected to continue is the increasing popularity of the use of mobile devices for online betting, with mobile betting expected to account for 45.6% of Europe’s online gambling revenue in 2020 and to reach 50.8% by 2022, surpassing the use of desktop for the first time. This trend is expected to continue, with mobile betting projected to reach a 58.2% share in 2025.

EGBA members step up their safer gambling efforts and contributions to European sports
In addition to market data, EGBA has also published detailed European information from its member companies – bet365, Betsson Group, Entain, Kindred Group, and William Hill – including information about their customers, market value, games, investment in sports, licensing and regulatory compliance:

Customers:

A total of 16 million online customers.
Average customer win/return rate of 94.3%.

Safer gambling:

63% of customers used at least one safer gambling tool, an increase from 37% of customers in the previous year.
Conducted 1.2 million direct interventions with customers to promote safer gambling, a 50% increase from the previous year.

Economic impact:

Combined €5.6bn in online GGR.
Invested €340m in European sports, through sponsorships (€107m) and streaming rights (€233m), an increase of 56% from the previous year.

Regulatory compliance:

A total of 145 online gambling licenses across 17 European countries.
Closed 1.8m customer accounts due to know-your-customer, fraud, anti-money laundering, and betting integrity/match fixing concerns.

“We commend our members efforts in support of safer gambling and their significant investments in European sports. Like many other sectors, Europe’s gambling sector has taken a hit from COVID-19 this year but the growth trend of online continues to be strong. There is also still lots of room for growth in markets like France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, where the online penetration of the total gambling market is still relatively low compared to other European countries.”

– Maarten Haijer, Secretary General, EGBA.