Illegal online gambling operators in the US grew revenue almost twice as fast as the licensed sector in 2025, according to a study by Gaming Compliance International (GCI) commissioned by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling (CFG).
Unregulated sites and apps generated $97.4 billion in GGR from US consumers in 2025, up from $67.1 billion the year before — a 45.2% increase. The legal sector grew 23%, rising from $23 billion to $28.3 billion. Combined player losses across legal and illegal segments rose from $90.1 billion to $125.6 billion, up 39.4%. The share of unlicensed operators in the total market by GGR reached 77%, up from 74% in 2024.
Legalisation has not solved the problem
The report concludes that legalising sports betting and online casino has not slowed the expansion of illegal operators. Regulation has expanded the overall market, while the grey sector has continued to grow. 'The legal industry uses the existence of illegals to lobby for legalisation, then demands low taxes and weak regulation to compete with the same illegals,' said Derek Webb, sponsor of CFG.
GCI introduced a Loss Ratio metric — GGR per capita as a percentage of income per capita. In states with legal betting and casino, the ratio averaged 1.38%. In states with betting only it was 0.99%; in states with no legalisation, 0.44%. Louisiana showed the highest Loss Ratio of any state, most of which GCI attributed to illegal operators. In West Virginia, where both verticals are legal, the overall ratio was 1.57%, of which 0.87 percentage points came from the grey market. In California, where both verticals are prohibited, Loss Ratio was 0.43% — entirely from illegal operators.
CFG, which funded the report, opposes the expansion of gambling and calls for stronger enforcement against illegal operators before further liberalisation.
