TLDR
- Unregulated online gambling now sits at $5.9 trillion in wagering value, making it the world’s third-largest economy behind only the US and China
- 78% of the online gaming market operates without a license, leaving just 22% regulated and compliant
- Gaming Compliance International calls unregulated online gambling the biggest cybercrime in the world
- A growing “unacknowledged” layer including social casinos, sweepstakes, skins trading, and TikTok contests is adding to consumer confusion
- GCI proposes a framework called MPEO — monitor, police, enforce, and optimize — to help regulators respond
The Scale of Unregulated Online Gambling
A new report from Gaming Compliance International has put a number on unregulated online gambling that is hard to ignore. The consultancy estimates the sector has reached $5.9 trillion in wagering value worldwide.
That figure would make unregulated online gambling the third-largest economic system on the planet. Only the legitimate economies of the United States and China are larger, according to GCI.
The report, titled Online Gaming 2025: Global, found that 78% of the entire online gaming market is unregulated. That means the vast majority of activity happens outside any licensing or compliance framework.
The remaining 22% is the portion that governments can identify as licensed. GCI says this imbalance means regulators are not dealing with a small problem on the margins.
GCI chief executive Matt Holt said in a press release on Monday that regulators are facing a dominant issue. He said most activity is taking place beyond the regulated perimeter.
Holt added that GCI’s role is to give regulators full transparency across the total marketplace. The company says it uses an artificial intelligence-driven platform to help policymakers understand the industry.
GCI president Ismail Vali described the market as now operating in three layers. Those layers are regulated, unregulated, and what the company calls unacknowledged activity.
The Rise of Unacknowledged Gambling Products
Vali said this third layer is speeding up consumer confusion and making regulation more complex. He said consumers do not see the difference between the three sectors.
From the consumer’s point of view, everything is accessible and competing equally. Vali described this as the “gamification of everything.”
The unacknowledged category includes products that fall outside traditional classification. GCI lists social casinos, sweepstakes, fake financial products, skins trading, TikTok contests, and some prediction markets as examples.
Prediction markets on sports events fall under the unregulated label in most countries. The exception is the United States, where the Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulates prediction markets as financial products.
GCI says the three sectors are increasingly blending together. The result, according to the report, is a “white noise marketplace” where everything looks the same to consumers.
The report says this overlap is hurting regulated operators commercially. It is also leading to rising tax losses and higher risks for consumers.
To address the problem, GCI has proposed a framework it calls MPEO. The letters stand for monitor, police, enforce, and optimize.
The company says the framework focuses on actions that benefit commerce, community, and consumers in each jurisdiction. GCI frames the issue as a broad regulatory challenge rather than a narrow market concern.
With unregulated activity making up most of the online gaming market, the consultancy argues that stronger enforcement and clearer oversight are needed to match the scale of the problem.
