The Hamburg-based business intelligence company yStats has released a new report on global online gambling trends, and the results continue to show that online gambling is doing anything but slowing down.
The report expects the industry to continue to grow and for more countries to regulate online gambling.
The report, titled “Global Online Gambling and Betting Market 2015,” said Europe remains the largest online gambling market and predict that the numbers of online gamblers there will increase as countries such as Holland and Portugal begin regulating online play.
The study found that sports betting is the most popular online bet In the United Kingdom, France and Spain, while in Italy, casino games are the most popular.
Meanwhile, another study by the American Gaming Association found that the global online gambling market is worth $37 billion a year, which represents nine percent of the overall global legal gambling market.
About 85 nations have legalized online gambling, according research from the American Gaming Association, but more than 70 percent of the world’s online casinos restrict access for U.S. players.
According to the European Commission, online gambling is worth about $14.7 billion yearly. Online casino gambling is the fastest growing service activity in the EU betting sector, with annual growth rates of almost 15 percent.
There was an estimated 6.84 million online gamblers in the EU in 2012.
But who is making the money?
Although the offshore and essentially unregulated online poker sites have a legal gray area stigma, they have been growing more than .com sites, and in an impressive manner, in regards to cash game traffic. Over the last two years, the global .com market has dipped down by 23 percent, while Chico has outperformed it by 125 percent, WPN by 77 percent, and Bodog by 43 percent.
All three of the networks have taken a unique route which has led to success. Bodog, to the dismay of some, use anonymous tables and players, which thwart third party software such as Poker Tracker which would give players an advantage.
WPN has gone to many lengths, such as its “The Beast” rake race, a bad beat jackpot, and was the first major poker room to accept bitcoin deposits and withdrawals.
The Chico network has also allowed players to use bitcoin in its cashier, and showcases a $50,000 rake race for its sit & go players. Since Black Friday in April 2011, no publicly reported actions have surfaced against offshore sites which service U.S. players.
