Gaming Compliance International (GCI) has released a new report estimating that unregulated online gambling reached $5.9trn in global wagering value in 2025, underlining the growing scale of offshore and unlicensed betting activity worldwide.
According to the report, titled ‘GCI Online Gaming 2025: Global’, the online gambling market is now heavily dominated by unregulated operators, with GCI estimating that 78% of global gross gaming revenue market share sits outside licensed environments. Regulated operators account for the remaining 22%.
The company argues that the global online gambling ecosystem has evolved beyond a traditional split between regulated and unregulated markets. GCI identifies a third category, described as “unacknowledged gambling”, which includes products and platforms that replicate gambling mechanics without falling under existing regulatory classifications.
GCI said these products are contributing to what it calls the “White Noise Marketplace”, where consumers encounter regulated, unregulated and gambling-like products within the same digital environment.
According to the report, this convergence is increasing consumer confusion while also creating challenges for regulators attempting to monitor market activity and enforce compliance standards.
Commenting on the report, CEO Matt Holt stated: "At $5.9trn in wagering value, unregulated online gambling is one of the largest economic systems in the world, operating largely outside regulatory oversight.
“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, President of GCI, added: "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.
“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.
“If you cannot see the entire marketplace – regulated, unregulated and unacknowledged – you cannot control it. This is the shift."
The report follows GCI's acquisition last November of Yield Sec, the AI-driven marketplace intelligence platform founded by Ismail Vali, who now serves as President of the combined organisation. The deal expanded GCI's black-market detection and monitoring capabilities and set the groundwork for the kind of comprehensive marketplace analysis underpinning the new findings.
At $5.9trn in wagering value, GCI's analysis suggests unregulated online gambling now ranks as the world's third largest economy, behind only the US and China
