Unregulated online gambling now represents the world’s “third-largest economy”, with an estimated value of US$5.9 trillion in wagering value, behind only the legitimate economic systems of the United States and China, says a new report from Gaming Compliance International (GCI).
The report estimates 78 percent of the online gaming market is unregulated – “unlicensed but actively targeting and transacting” – and only the balance of 22 percent in the viewfinder of governments in terms of being “licensed and compliant”.
GCI describes itself as a consultancy with a proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) powered platform designed to help governments, regulators and other decision-makers understand the online gaming sector and form policy on it.
The report, titled ‘Online Gaming 2025: Global’, says unregulated online gambling is “representing the largest form of cybercrime globally”.
Matt Holt, GCI chief executive, was cited saying in a Monday press release about the report: “At US$5.9 trillion in wagering value, unregulated online gambling is one of the largest economic systems in the world, operating largely outside regulatory oversight.”
He added: “Regulators are not facing a marginal challenge, but a dominant one – the majority of activity is occurring beyond the regulated perimeter.
“Our role is to provide full transparency across the total marketplace, enabling regulators to act with confidence.”
Ismail Vali, GCI president, said in prepared remarks: “What we are now seeing is a three-sector gaming marketplace in every jurisdiction – regulated, unregulated, and unacknowledged – and it is this third layer that is accelerating consumer confusion, unregulated growth, and regulatory complexity at scale.”
He added, referring to consumers globally : “The audience does not distinguish between these sectors. They experience one marketplace, where everything is accessible and everything competes equally. In a world where you can bet on anything, consumers are increasingly betting on everything – this is the gamification of everything.”
The report clarifies that prediction markets on sports events are included under its “unregulated” heading, except for within the United States, where prediction markets are currently classed and regulated as financial products by the country’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
GCI offered a definition of “unacknowledged” as “gambling-like products outside classification”.
It says examples include but are not limited to social casinos, sweepstakes, fake financial products, skins trading, TikTok contests, and some prediction markets.
The consultancy suggests the regulated, unregulated and unacknowledged sectors are converging from the viewpoint of the consumer, resulting in commercial revenue to regulated operators declining; a diminishing of tax potential from the industry; and a scenario where “consumer risks escalate”.
The result is what the report defines as the “white noise marketplace,” where “everything is visible, accessible, and indistinguishable”.
The consultancy adds that solutions “are only found” within a framework it calls “MPEO” – monitor, police, enforce, optimise – “focused on actions that benefit each jurisdiction’s commerce, community, and consumers”.
