Europe was the largest online gambling market in the world, owing to a large number of countries with established regulations regarding this sector. This number is set to increase, as countries like the.

European Online Gambling Market Size Uk
European Online Gambling Market Size Report Canada
European Online Gambling Market Size Charts
European Online Gambling Market Size Chart

You may look at the betting and gambling industry and think there is a lot of healthy competition, with hundreds of brands now vying for our pennies. Many companies however, although they might seem independent, are in fact part of the same group, and you may never know it. As with many markets, there are in fact a few big players and the rest are left to scramble for the remainder of the custom.

It isn't just the old high street bookies like William Hill and Betfred that occupy the top spots in the biggest betting company leagues. Many early online only bookmakers have already beaten the old land based operators, such as Bet365, and the world's biggest and first online exchange, Betfair. Mergers between already large companies such as Ladbrokes and Coral and Betfair and Paddy Power has created behemoth bookies. These giants have further merged to create collosus billion pound companies such as GVC and The Stars Group. The future of bookmaking in the UK is in the balance as it risks becoming a monopoly of a very few massive companies, very much like the energy markets.

Percent in 2010 in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), and of 2.9 percent in Canada. Revenues in the US—currently the world’s largest casino market, but set to be overtaken by Asia Pacific in 2013—were virtually flat in 2010, rising by just 0.2 percent, the first increase since 2007. Asia Pacific: the growth engine. EU28 - Online Gambling as Share of Total Gambling Activity (%) Online gambling had a share of 20.7% of the total EU gambling market activity, while 79.3% was land-based, including lotteries, casinos and bookmaker shops. Market Share (%) EU28 - Most Popular Online Gambling Activities (%) Most Popular (%) Sports betting 40.31% Casino 32.14% Poker. The global gambling market size reached a value of nearly $449.3 billion in 2018, having grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.1% since 2014, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.9%.

In this article we also look at the development of the UK gambling industry, the size of the profits made along with the progressive switch to online betting and gaming.

Largest Betting Companies

Flutter Stars Group (Paddy Power, Betfair, SkyBet, PokerStars + Others)

Dublin / Toronto

£3.8 Billion

12500

600 (UK + I)

2020 (Merger)

Many mergers are often just about money. Coral didn't really bring anything new to Ladbrokes for example, but the merger between Betfair and Paddy Power in 2016 to create the third biggest betting brand was certainly mutually beneficial to both parties.

The group, renamed Flutter Entertainment, completed a second merger in 2020 with The Stars Group, owner of Sky Betting & Games, PokerStars and a whole host of other poker related sites. Together this group overnight became the largest betting company in the world in terms of revenue and market share (38% online market share at the time of the takeover). Unlike GVC the new Flutter Stars Group has a much more diverse portfolio and a bigger international reach so it is likely they will go on to strengthen their position at number 1.

Paddy Power, one of Ireland's biggest bookmakers, was founded in 1988 but it was the online age that really saw the brand come to life through its often controversial advertising strategies. Holding over 600 shops across the UK and Ireland and boasting retail revenues of nearly £1 billion Paddy Power brought the real world locations, marketing strategy and cash to the merger.

Betfair on the other hand had a very different history in the betting industry. Launching as a peer-peer betting exchange rather than a traditional bookie in 2000, Betfair became the biggest of its type in no time at all. Despite better odds on offer in the exchange, the market still remains fairly small (see later) and so in order to compete Betfair launched a fixed odds sports book in 2011. Betfair are the smaller party in the merger, generating less than £500 million in revenue. For this reason PP shareholders received 52% and Betfair 48% of the Flutter company when it was formed.

London

£3.7 Billion

30000

4000

2004

European Online Gambling Market Size Uk

William Hill were ousted from top spot following the merger in 2016 of Britain's second and third largest bookmakers in 2015, completed 2016. The new company, imaginatively named Ladbrokes-Coral Plc, generated nearly £2.5 billion in revenue each year and employed over 30,000 people.

In 2018 the new group was further purchased by GVC (the former name of Entain) in a deal worth around £4 billion, adding further power to the brand on an international scale. GVC also own and run sites such as sportingbet (although we wouldn't recommend them to bet with), partypoker, Gala, Foxy and Bwin.

Ladbrokes, Britain's oldest betting company founded in 1886, and Coral, established in the 1926, have over 200 years experience of being a bookmaker between them. The group own nearly 4000 betting shops, although were forced to sell over 300 in their 2016 merger, and are two of the most recognisable brands on the British high street.

Coral, started by Joe Coral an on track bookmaker in the 1920's, grew rapidly following legalisation of off-course betting shops in 1961, becoming one of the first bookies to take advantage. Merging with another company in 1971 to become Coral Leisure the group was acquired by Bass in 1981. In 1997 Ladbrokes made their first attempt to buy Coral from Bass but this was blocked by the UK Monopolies and Mergers Commission at the time. Coral was sold to Morgan Grenfell, a private equity firm in 1999 and also merged with Eurobet, one of the first online betting sites, in the same year. Gala bingo, founded in 1991 and operating over 150 halls with an additional online presence, merged with Coral in 2005 to form the Gala Coral Group.

Ladbrokes was started by two men who acted as a commission agents for horses (trained at Ladbroke Hill). Following a move to London in the early 20th century the company became a bookmaker for rich clients. Falling on harder times following WWII the company was sold for just £100,000. The same legalisation of betting shops that drove Coral's rise in 1961 however reversed the fortunes of Ladbrokes too, who were later floated on the stock exchange for £1M in 1966. With forays into the hotel (Hilton Group) and home convenience industry the Ladbrokes group grew to second largest UK bookmaker. Prior to their Coral merger Ladbrokes also acquired BETDAQ, the second largest betting exchange, 2013.

The group now generate nearly half of their profits from digital sources and between them have more online customers than any other company. In late 2020 the group changed its name to Entain PLC. For more about each brand see our full reviews.

Stoke-on-Trent

£3.0 Billion

4700

None

2000

Bet365 meteoric rise has all come form the digital industry, and considering that only now is the online gambling market bigger than the high street (excluding national lottery) that is a pretty impressive performance. When they say in their advents that Bet365 is the worlds favourite online betting company they really are not lying.

Established in 2000 from a small temporary building in Stoke by now multi-billionaire Denise Coates, the highest paid woman in Britain, Bet365 now generates massive online revenues and is the largest private employer in Stoke. They even own the football stadium.

Denise started the business by borrowing against her fathers brick and mortar bookmaking business, established in 1974 by Stoke City chairman Peter Coates. Selling off the shops to Coral in 2005 Bet365 became an online only operator where they have gained a huge customer base of over 45+ million people from 200 countries. The brand has the best reputation within the betting and gaming industry from both punters and insiders and boasts one of the most loyal customer bases of any business.

Often cited as a success story of British online business, if you were to rule out the offline gambling sector th