Online gambling on the rise: one in 10 adults to take part by 2019

Online gambling is set to explode in the next five years, thanks largely to increasingly liberal legislation in the US and Europe. In fact, a new report from Juniper Research suggests that as many as one in 10 adults will engage in some form of mobile or online gambling by 2019.

Of course, some countries will see higher rates of gambling than others. Nearly half of adults in the UK and Italy for instance will be involved in some form of online gambling by 2019.

As well as increasingly liberal laws, Juniper does note that the migration from traditional lottery purchase to mobile channels will play a large part in driving the growth of mobile and online gambling.

Read more: Social gambling to be worth $100bn by 2017

In the US, gambling is still illegal in many states, but that hasn’t stopped growth in states where it is legal and on sites operating offshore, but which still accept US payments. Juniper therefore reckons that from pragmatic perspective, more states are likely to legalise intrastate online gambling for the purpose of generating tax revenues.

Meanwhile, implementation of the latest EU directive on AML (Anti-Money Laundering) is expected to lead to greater harmonisation of national gambling policies, the research cautioned that continuing uncertainty over complex licensing procedures in several markets had resulted in the exits of key operators.

“Playtech and Mansion both pulled out of Germany earlier this year, while the new tax rates on sports betting in Portugal has led to William Hill exiting that market,” says research co-author Dr Windsor Holden. “The introduction of prohibitive taxation rates will simply lead to an exodus of major players with customers switching to unlicensed operators.”