Unlicensed online gambling operators generated an estimated $97.4 billion in gross gaming revenue (GGR) from US consumers during 2025, according to new research from Gaming Compliance International (GCI). The figure represents 77% of the country’s combined regulated and unregulated online market.
The August report, commissioned by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling (CFG), estimates that unlicensed GGR increased by 45.2% from $67.1 billion in 2024. Licensed online gambling revenue grew by 23% to $28.3 billion over the same period.
US Online Gambling Report at a Glance
- GCI estimates that unlicensed online gambling GGR reached $97.4 billion in 2025.
- The estimated unlicensed share increased from 74% in 2024 to 77% in 2025.
- Licensed online gambling GGR rose from $23 billion to $28.3 billion.
- Total online GGR grew by 39.4% to $125.6 billion.
- Unlicensed operators accounted for approximately 85% of the market’s estimated year-on-year revenue increase.
- The findings differ substantially from estimates published by the American Gaming Association.
Unlicensed Revenue Outpaces the Regulated Market
GCI’s Online Gambling 2025: USA report places the combined US online market at $125.6 billion in GGR, up from $90.1 billion during 2024. GGR represents the amount retained by operators after winnings are returned to customers; it is not the total amount wagered.
On GCI’s figures, the unlicensed sector added $30.3 billion in annual revenue while the regulated sector added $5.3 billion. Unlicensed platforms therefore accounted for approximately 85% of the estimated $35.5 billion increase across the total market.
The full-year result also marks a change from CFG’s January 2026 briefing, which placed the unlicensed share at 74% during the first half of 2025. The latest estimate suggests that unregulated activity accelerated during the second half of the year.
Derek Webb, founder and funder of CFG, said enforcement should take precedence over further market expansion:
Taking action against bad actors in the illicit sector is the solution and must be the priority for all stakeholders.
What GCI Includes in the $97.4 Billion Estimate
The report covers online sports betting, casino gaming, poker, lotteries and crypto gambling. Traditional sports betting and prediction products are grouped together, while crypto activity is allocated between the sports betting and casino categories.
Daily fantasy sports, sweepstakes casinos, social casinos and prize-draw contests are excluded. An operator is treated as unregulated when it actively targets and accepts transactions from US consumers without the relevant local licence. GCI says its assessment considers advertising, affiliate activity, audience access and verified payment options rather than counting every website that is merely accessible from the US.
Its market-sizing model combines proprietary and third-party licensed data with automated monitoring and human analysis. GCI compares sites and apps using a “value per visit” metric that considers factors including products, prices, promotions, payments, deposit thresholds and customer checks.
However, the underlying operator-level data and calculations are not published in the report, preventing independent reproduction of the $97.4 billion estimate. CFG also commissioned the study and has consistently opposed gambling expansion. The figures should consequently be described as GCI estimates rather than measured industry totals.
The US study follows GCI’s global online gambling report for 2025, which estimated that unregulated operators captured 78% of online GGR worldwide.
State Comparisons Show Different Regulatory Outcomes
GCI also introduced a “Loss Ratio” comparing online gambling GGR per person with income per person. States offering both regulated sports betting and online casinos recorded an average total ratio of 1.38%. Sports-betting-only states averaged 0.99%, while states offering neither product averaged 0.44%.
The unregulated component produced a different ranking. It averaged 0.80% in sports-betting-only states, 0.67% in states with both regulated products and 0.44% in states with neither.
Louisiana recorded the highest total and unregulated ratios in the state tables. West Virginia’s total ratio reached 1.57%, including 0.87 percentage points attributed to unlicensed gambling. California, which had neither regulated online sports betting nor online casino gaming during the period, recorded a ratio of 0.43%, all of which GCI classified as unregulated.
These comparisons support the report’s argument that legalisation alone does not eliminate offshore activity. They do not, however, establish that regulated gambling causes unlicensed gambling to grow. Differences in income, consumer behaviour, product access and GCI’s modelling can all affect state-level results.
GCI and AGA Produce Widely Different Estimates
The scale of GCI’s estimate contrasts sharply with research published by the American Gaming Association (AGA) in August 2025. The AGA estimated that illegal sportsbooks produced $5 billion in annual revenue, and unregulated online slots and table games generated $18.6 billion—a combined online total of $23.6 billion.
Ace Alliance’s earlier analysis of US regulated and illegal gambling revenue covered the AGA findings alongside the growth of licensed gaming during the second quarter of 2025.
The two estimates are not directly comparable. The AGA study surveyed 2,454 adults and calibrated their responses against reported regulated-market data, including legal revenue from June 2024 to May 2025. It excluded poker, sweepstakes casinos and prediction markets. GCI covers the 2025 calendar year and uses online monitoring alongside a broader product definition that includes poker, lottery, crypto gambling and prediction products but excludes sweepstakes and social casinos.
Even allowing for those differences, the gap is substantial. It illustrates the difficulty of measuring operators that do not report US revenue and the importance of identifying the methodology whenever an illegal-market estimate is cited.
Enforcement Becomes the Next Test
For licensed operators and regulators, the report reinforces the commercial importance of channelisation: directing players towards authorised services offering consumer safeguards and contributing tax revenue.
State regulators are already increasing pressure on offshore platforms. In April, the Michigan Gaming Control Board issued cease-and-desist notices to 45 unlicensed operators offering casino games or sports betting to residents.
The practical question is whether payment disruption, domain restrictions and enforcement against operators and affiliates can reduce unlicensed activity across the wider US market. Future regulated revenue data and independently verifiable research will be needed to determine whether the illegal share is rising—and which estimate most accurately reflects its scale.