In Europe, the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) presented a detailed report to the European Commission (EC) in response to the Action Plan for the Fight against Online Fraud, an initiative that seeks to analyze the scope of the problem and define coordinated strategies to combat it. The EGBA document, dated March 3 and reiterated in a press release on March 26, focuses on a pattern that the sector knows well but remains difficult to contain: the expansion of illegal online gambling directly linked to consumer fraud.
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Illegal gambling in Europe as a vector for consumer fraud
The EGBA identified a deception mechanism that goes beyond simple unlicensed operation. Offshore operators based outside the European Union not only evade regulation: in many cases they falsely claim to hold licenses granted by member countries, misrepresent their regulatory status and disguise gambling products as conventional entertainment applications.
Brand impersonation: a persistent and large-scale tactic
One of the most concerning elements described in the report is the increasing sophistication of identity theft techniques. Scammers reuse logos, website designs and marketing materials from licensed operators, and in some cases replicate the experience.
These fake platforms reach users through channels considered trustworthy, including Google Play and Apple’s App Store, where they are presented as authorized products. Once the user interacts with the platform, the recruitment process advances through stages that may include so-called verification or onboarding steps, until personal data or payment credentials are requested. At that point, the damage is already underway and the chances of recovering funds are practically zero.
Phishing campaigns run in parallel to these tactics. EGBA members report recurring incidents with cloned communications and brand impersonation that do not concentrate on a single market, but appear simultaneously in several European countries, suggesting a structured strategy rather than isolated opportunistic movements.
The EGBA also warned that requests to remove fraudulent domains and applications often have a temporary effect: what is taken down one week may reappear shortly after with slightly modified formats.
An illegal market in Europe that moves 18.000 million dollars a year
The data accompanying the report dimensions the problem with precision. Last year, offshore operators accounted for approximately 27% of total gross online gambling revenue in Europe, equivalent to about 18.000 million dollars of a total market estimated at 66.000 million dollars.
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The figures by country reinforce this trend. In the United Kingdom, a study estimated that black market gambling grew by 522% between 2021 and 2024. In the Netherlands, the illegal market is estimated at 1.250 million dollars annually. Sweden reported that around 15% of online gambling activity in 2024 came from unauthorized sources, representing approximately 280 million dollars in revenue for unlicensed operators. In France, estimates place the illegal segment at up to 1.500 million dollars per year.
Money laundering and regulatory fragmentation in Europe
The EGBA report also points to two factors that complicate the response to the problem. On one hand, in offshore markets, anti-money laundering controls are non-existent or inconsistently applied. The payment systems of these platforms often include crypto-assets or intermediary accounts that make it difficult to track financial flows and make intervention by authorities more complex.
On the other hand, the fragmentation of reporting systems between jurisdictions slows down response times and reduces the effectiveness of coordinated actions. For operators working in multiple European markets, this lack of alignment creates additional operational pressure that illegal actors do not face.
A fiscal recovery of 20.000 million dollars at stake
The European Casino Association, which also supported the Commission’s initiative, described illegal online gambling in Europe as a form of consumer fraud linked to misleading advertising and the misuse of registered trademarks. The entity estimated that addressing the problem could generate a recovery of around 20.000 million dollars in annual tax revenue for member states, a figure that illustrates the concrete cost that inaction has on the bloc’s public coffers.
For the EGBA, the European Commission’s Action Plan represents an opportunity to advance on three fronts that have so far operated in an uncoordinated manner: cooperation between states, support for victims and the harmonization of response mechanisms to digital fraud in the gambling sector in Europe.
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