There are two main trends when it comes to gambling. Firstly, governments are increasingly concerned about its impact on society, and secondly, it’s getting more popular (and that popularity is found online, not in physical casinos).
Countries like the UK and Australia have been introducing more and more legislative crackdowns, but it’s having contradictory outcomes: the market is still growing.
Australia’s gambling market
Australia’s gambling sector is one of the most strict. The nation has a reputation for being strict, whether it’s border enforcement, the response to the pandemic, plain packaging for smoking, or immigration. Gambling, it seems, is no different, with the government making it hard for operators to gain a license and enforcing responsible gambling statements into advertising promotions.
In 2023, it was announced by the government that it would have a National Framework, which ensures minimum consumer protections for online gamblers. This consisted of 10 measures, such as opt-out schemes, outlawing credit card deposits, and a National-Exclusion registration.
Parallel to this is Australia’s gambling market growth, which is seeing around a 13% year over year increase in total gambling expenditure. Minimum deposit casinos are incredibly popular, for example. Electronic gaming machine expenditure saw a big increase though, and it was total keno expenditure which grew the fastest at 36%, highlighting that it’s not just online gambling that is booming.
What’s more likely is that these new government measures are in response to the growth, which had existed long before the boredom-inducing pandemic. For the most part, the growth can be put down to its digitisation, which made it both more accessible but also more innovative, resulting in a more varied market than a traditional casino.
Although digitisation has happened now (almost everyone is aware of it and can access it), growth is projected to further increase to USD $10.14 this year. Until 2029, it’s expected to have an average CAGR of 4.80%. Can this simply be down to digitisation? No. It’s a phenomenon that is difficult to pinpoint.
Markets around the world
The story is similar all around the world, with legislation tightening yet market growth exploding. Below are a handful of examples regarding recent changes to their law along with the market growth landscape.
Germany
Germany’s Interstate Treaty on Gambling came into effect in July 2021. The new treaty helps separate online casino games (i.e. Blackjack and Slots) rather than treating them all as the same. Each federal state essentially has its own power to decide on how many licenses are handed out, as well as control what games providers can and cannot offer.
Unsurprisingly, Germany’s revenue is expected to grow at around 5.45% each year (on average) until 2028, similar to in Australia.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has a strong history in gambling (in particular, sports betting), and as a result, has one of the most comprehensive regulatory frameworks in place. As the FCA comes down hard on crypto promotions, the Gambling Commission has recently introduced legislation to have stricter affordability checks as well as banning credit card gambling, like Australia is.
Despite these measures, there are record revenues of around £15 billion (which doesn’t even include the national lottery), prompting further investigation of whether or not to ban online slots.
Final word
The theme across the world is the same, and we can even see it play out inside single national borders. For example, Canada and the US have experienced an individual state making their laws become more lax, causing migration of companies over state borders and increasing revenues within that jurisdiction. This tells us that without the hardening of laws around the world, the global gambling market would be even bigger than it is today.
While television has long been a place to ban gambling adverts, there’s a chance there will be greater focus placed on influencers and social media, similar to that of recent crypto promotion laws in the UK. Regardless of upcoming law changes, though, it appears the gambling market is prepared to withstand such pressures and continue growing.
The black market is also sizable, and there’s a chance they may grow faster if the laws become more restrictive.
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