Types and sizes of online gambling markets: analysis and geography

Thinking about opening an online casino, but not sure where to launch it? Choosing a market is the single most important decision a new operator can make — long before the games, brand or platform come into play. In this article, we will walk through how gambling markets are classified, what makes each type attractive or risky, and how to choose the right one for your project — with real examples from Slotegrator's own experience.

Market insights

The number of online casinos and sportsbooks around the world grows every year, but not every market is equally attractive — and, more importantly, not every market is equally regulated.

Over many years in iGaming, Slotegrator has learned that market research goes well beyond demographics like player age, gender, game and bonus preferences, average bet size or cultural habits. Markets also differ sharply in how they are perceived by the global gaming community and how they are regulated — and that difference often matters more than anything else.

Types of gambling markets by region

Gambling markets can be grouped by region, but individual countries will differ enormously in both the maturity of their regulation and the size of their player base.

Europe remains one of the world's largest and most mature gambling markets, with well-developed regulatory frameworks in countries such as Italy, Spain, Germany and France.

Asia is developing fast. Rising internet penetration, mobile adoption, growing use of cryptocurrencies and gradual legislative easing are all pushing the region's gambling market towards significant growth.

North America is still a patchwork, regulated on a state-by-state and province-by-province basis, rather than nationwide. Online sports betting is now legal in the majority of US states, though online casino gaming (iGaming) has been authorized in only a handful so far — New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan are among the most mature. Canada regulates at the provincial level, with Ontario running the country's most developed open market, and Mexico's online market keeps growing.

Latin America is one of the fastest-moving regions in the industry. Peru and Colombia have all regulated their markets; Chile has passed legalizing legislation; and Ecuador is progressing toward regulation.

Africa is increasingly on operators' radars. Kenya, for example, has been reviewing its gambling legislation to establish a stronger regulatory body, raise taxes and tighten enforcement — a reminder that African markets, while promising, can also shift quickly.

Slotegrator Academy tracks these developments closely, publishing regular updates on legislative changes, betting limits, newly opening markets and shifts in licensing structures around the world.

Types of gambling markets by regulation

Beyond geography, markets can be classified by how their legislation treats gambling: regulated, gray and black. It's worth noting that with modern technology, particularly with cryptocurrencies and VPNs, players can access casinos outside their home jurisdiction regardless of local rules.

Regulated markets

Regulated markets are jurisdictions that explicitly permit and license gambling. This model, pioneered in Europe, has since spread to key markets worldwide. Regulated markets tend to be the richest and most sought-after — but local licenses can carry a steep price tag, and strict marketing rules can make it hard for new entrants to compete with established operators. Regulated markets include the UK, Czechia, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Nigeria and many others.

Opportunities in newly regulated markets

When a market that was previously closed or gray takes steps to regulate itself, it creates a rare opportunity for operators to get in early — provided they can secure a license and do not have a past of operating illegally. The Netherlands is an interesting example: the Dutch Gambling Authority, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), opened licensing in 2021 after years of gambling prohibition. However, it also barred operators who had previously targeted Dutch players without authorization from applying until they had served a cooling-off period. It has since grown into one of Europe's more closely watched markets.

The Netherlands isn't an isolated case of markets shifting towards regulation, either. Albania recently lifted its ban on sports betting and moved to a licensed model to shrink its black market, and Peru introduced licensing and regulation for both gambling and betting. Finland is the one still worth watching closely — its government has committed to ending Veikkaus's state monopoly and opening a licensing model, but the timeline has already slipped more than once, with the first private licenses now expected sometime around 2026–2027 rather than the original target date. It's a useful reminder that "newly regulated" often means "regulating," a process rather than a finished event, and operators eyeing a market like this should factor in room for the timeline to move.

The advantage of targeting a market before or during its transition to regulation is that operators generally don't face retroactive penalties once rules take effect — unlike those operating in outright black markets, who risk both legal consequences and being blacklisted from future licensing.

It’s important to keep in mind that a single jurisdiction may fall into more than one of these categories at the same time. This is due to the distinctions between offline and online gambling, and between casino gaming and sports betting. Many countries only regulate land-based gambling, leaving online in a “gray” area. In other cases, casino gaming may be outright banned, while sports betting is legal and regulated.

Gray markets

Gray markets are jurisdictions that don't ban land-based or online gambling outright, but lack comprehensive regulation, a formal licensing process, or have loopholes that leave the legal picture unclear.

While most large and wealthy markets have moved toward local licensing, smaller jurisdictions without the resources for a robust regulatory body often remain gray.

Gray markets are a common entry point for newer operators, since they allow companies to operate without a local license or a heavy regulatory burden. The trade-off, based on Slotegrator's experience, is instability: these markets can regulate or restrict with little warning, and taxation is often unclear.

Why gray markets are volatile. Gray markets can be a strong springboard, but their unpredictability has pushed some established brands to rethink their strategy. Sportsbook William Hill, for instance, withdrew from over 50 gray markets at once, citing regulatory uncertainty, and immediately stopped all local advertising and deposits.

SportPesa’s experience in Kenya is perhaps a worst-case scenario for gray market operations, but one worth being aware of.

Founded in Kenya in 2014, SportPesa grew fast on the back of a domestic betting boom and expanded into five other countries. But then Kenya's new 20% betting tax was introduced, challenged in court, walked back, and raised again more than once since — at one point the pressure was severe enough that SportPesa pulled out of the country entirely, and when it tried to return under a different trade name, its new license was suspended within a day over an unrelated legal dispute. The company has since found its way back into the Kenyan market, but the years in between are exactly the kind of disruption a gray-market operator has to be prepared to absorb.

It's an extreme case, but a useful one: a shifting tax and licensing environment can create as many problems for operators as it does opportunities — and the story is a good reason to treat any specific tax rate you read about a gray market as a snapshot, not a constant.

Black markets

Black markets are jurisdictions that explicitly prohibit gambling for political, cultural or religious reasons — whether offline, online or both. Muslim-majority countries across Asia and North Africa are prime examples of this category, although they aren't the only ones.

Some jurisdictions carve out exceptions for tourism: casinos may be permitted to operate within resorts if they only serve foreign visitors. A number of island nations have taken this further, issuing online licenses that explicitly bar operators from targeting local players — a way of capturing gambling revenue from abroad while keeping the domestic market closed.

A single country can also fall into more than one category at once. Land-based and online gambling are often regulated separately, and so are casino gaming and sports betting — plenty of countries license one of these while leaving another gray or banning it outright.

How to choose a gambling market

Choosing where to launch isn't a single decision — it's a combination of them. Based on our experience advising operators, here's the step-by-step process we recommend:

1. Define which market type fits your project. Be honest about your resources and risk appetite. A well-funded operator aiming for long-term stability should generally target regulated markets; a newer or smaller operator with limited capital may be better served testing a gray market first, accepting more uncertainty in exchange for lower entry costs.
2. Narrow down the region. Once you know the type of market you're after, compare regions against each other — market size and growth trajectory, competitive density, player purchasing power, and how closely the region's culture and payment habits match what your platform already supports. If you don't know where to start, our interactive map of gambling regulation is a good first stop — we built it to make it easier to see, at a glance, which countries allow and regulate land-based and online gambling and betting, so you have something concrete to anchor your research.
3. Study the legal requirements in your shortlisted countries. Go country by country within your chosen category and region. Requirements vary widely even between neighboring markets, including licensing bodies, application timelines, local presence requirements, advertising restrictions and tax structures.
4. Calculate the full cost of entry. Budget for more than the license fee itself — legal and compliance costs, localization (language, currency, payment methods), marketing spend needed to compete locally and the ongoing cost of maintaining compliance will all add up. Weigh this against a realistic projection of the market's profitability for your specific product.
5. Get expert input before committing. Markets change, and secondhand information goes stale quickly. Talk to people with direct, current experience of the jurisdiction — in-house counsel, local partners or an advisory team like Slotegrator's — before finalizing a decision.
6. Plan for what comes after launch. Choosing a market isn't a one-time decision. Build in a review point after your first few months of operation: regulatory conditions, tax rates and licensing rules can shift, as several of the examples above show — and a market that looks stable today may need reassessing in a year.

Market growth outlook

The gambling industry continues to expand alongside new technology and newly regulated markets, with analysts expecting growth to continue over the coming years.

New regulation tends to create a short window of outsized opportunity: when a jurisdiction first opens up and becomes a "white" market, competition is typically lowest and player engagement highest, since demand has often been building for years under looser rules. That window closes as more operators enter — which is why timing an entry into a newly regulated market matters just as much as choosing the market itself.

How can Slotegrator help?

Choosing the right market is one of the hardest steps for any new iGaming operator — and getting it right early avoids costly detours later. Slotegrator provides licensing and jurisdictional advisory services to guide you through the process, from initial market selection to license applications and beyond.