The online gambling market is continuing to grow: analysts predict that the global iGaming market will have an estimated value of $113.12 billion by 2025. The largest markets are the UK, the USA, Australia, Japan, and China, but experts see impressive potential and great prospects for expansion in emerging markets. Slotegrator’s experts ranked the markets worth betting on in 2023.
This review presents the top five emerging markets:
Latin America
Latin American countries such as Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Columbia, and Chile have grabbed plenty of headlines throughout the iGaming sector in the past few years. Brazil in particular, often referred to as the “sleeping giant” of Latin America, is one of the largest markets in the region. Brazil’s online gambling GGR is expected to grow significantly, and will reach about $1.6 billion by 2026.
Among the countries actively working towards regulatory reform are Bolivia, Mexico, and Brazil. In the latter two, legislation is pending. Meanwhile, Colombia is updating legal provisions to better adapt to the digital age.
Latin Americans prefer online gambling because not everyone has access to land-based casinos. The most popular games are sports betting, slots, bingo, and poker.
Asia
Asia is a very diverse and promising region, densely populated, and with a rapidly growing economy. As for gambling control in Asian countries, this market is considered one of the most tightly regulated. However, there is a drive to liberalize the market: Thailand is discussing the details of market regulation, Vietnam is testing a pilot programme to allow locals to play in casinos which previously only admitted tourists, and some states in India are considering regulating online gambling. In Japan, the gambling market is very limited, but players spend an impressive amount of money on foreign sportsbooks — roughly $40 billion each year. For their part, Chinese gambling enthusiasts spend ¥1 trillion ($145.5 billion) annually on online gambling, much of it in cryptocurrency.