The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has published its 2026 Annual Activity Report, detailing a landmark period of membership expansion, significant market revenue growth, and substantial progress in standardising European player protection and anti-money laundering (AML) protocols.
The report, which aggregates 2025 performance data from its nine operator members—including the newly added Tipico—reveals that EGBA members now represent approximately 30% of Europe’s total regulated online gross gaming revenue (GGR). This growing footprint is supported by a combined total of 401 active online gambling licences across 22 European jurisdictions, marking a 25% increase from the previous year’s 321 licences.
Strong Revenue Growth and Shifts in Product Yields
Financially, EGBA’s operator members experienced robust growth throughout 2025, reaching a record collective online GGR of €18 billion ($20.6 billion)—a substantial 34% increase year-on-year. This growth was driven by a total of €275.3 billion placed in wagers, reflecting a 28% annual rise.
The vertical product breakdown shows a near-equal division between casino games and sports betting, with online casino marginally leading the portfolio:
- Casino Games: Generated 48% of total GGR (€8.6 billion), representing a 23% increase over the previous year.
- Sports Betting: Accounted for 46% of total GGR (€8.2 billion), showing the strongest year-on-year growth at 49%.
- Poker and Other Categories: Peer-to-peer poker and other verticals (including virtual sports, bingo, and event betting) accounted for 3% each.
- Winnings and Return-to-Player (RTP): Total customer winnings rose by 27% to €257.3 billion. However, the average return-to-player rate slipped slightly from 93.7% in 2024 to 93.4% in 2025, allowing collective operator margins to inch up to 6.6%.
Additionally, the number of active customer accounts rose 13% over the past year to reach 43.8 million, showing an expanding consumer base that has grown 47% since 2021.
Advocating for Balanced Regulation and Market Openness
A major regulatory focal point in the report is the structural shift away from state monopolies toward competitive multi-licensing systems across Europe. The EGBA highlighted Finland’s historic parliamentary vote to end its online monopoly and establish a multi-licensing framework by July 1, 2027, making it the final EU country to adopt this model.
However, while celebrating open-market structures, the association remains highly critical of state interventions that threaten the economic stability of licensed operators. This is especially true of fiscal policies that could drive players back to black-market platforms. In its policy critiques, the trade body argued that disproportionate national taxation hinders channelling rates, a position clearly outlined in discussions where the EGBA criticised EU online gambling levy proposal measures as counterproductive to safety-orientated, local regulatory frameworks.
Standard-Setting in Safer Gambling, AML, and Fraud Prevention
The report highlights major achievements in industry self-regulation and standardised consumer safety. In September 2025, the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) approved EN 18144, the first-ever European standard detailing markers of harm for online gambling—an initiative first proposed by the EGBA in 2022 and officially published in May 2026.
On the financial compliance front, the association actively aligned its members with the EU’s new Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA), which began operations in Frankfurt. EGBA members also completed their second annual compliance monitoring cycle under the association’s proprietary AML guidelines.
This intense internal compliance push is part of a wider effort to safeguard the European digital market from systemic vulnerabilities. Given the rise in highly sophisticated cyber threats across digital payment channels, the trade group continues to push for unified defensive standards, a focus highlighted when the EGBA urged the EU to combat rising online gambling fraud to create a coordinated, cross-border strategy against organised digital financial crime.
Maarten Haijer, the Secretary General stated,
The association will continue to advocate for balanced and smart regulation across Europe, engage constructively with EU and national institutions on emerging policy issues, including the potential EU-level online gambling tax, and further develop its safer gambling and sustainability initiatives.
Sustainable Industry Progress
With the publication of the 2026 Activity Report, the EGBA demonstrates that expanding European commercial success can go hand-in-hand with strict compliance standards. The fifth annual European Safer Gambling Week, held in November 2025, saw record participation, drawing 221 partners across 24 countries and expanding its social media reach to 4.1 million citizens.
For the European igaming ecosystem, the message from Brussels remains clear: as markets expand and consumer volumes hit historic peaks, long-term industry sustainability relies on establishing uniform, proactive standards rather than relying solely on fragmented, reactive local legislation.