Top gambling countries: which are the biggest gambling nations in Europe?

The French casino market places this European country among the top gambling countries in the world

The recent economic crises made it extremely difficult to find some reliable numbers about the development of the casino industry in past two years. However, many studies were conducted on global gaming which show more or less similar results in regard of the gambling activity world-wide. When all these studies are compared, some facts about the casino gambling market on a world level can definitely be said. In this series of articles GamingZion presents the most developed gambling countries on all continents, pointing out to the greatest casino games providers all across the globe. We start with Europe, which is clearly the most advanced casino gambling region in the world, in several respects.

The casino leaders in Europe

So who are the European casino leaders? For years already the French casino market proves to be the leading gambling market in the Euro zone. With annual revenues of over EUR 2.2 billion made by the beginning of 2016, as reported on the European Casino Association page, the French market is without concurrence on the first place in Europe.

France is followed by the casino market of the United Kingdom with EUR 1.35 billion and the Swiss one with EUR 651 million, as UK gambling sites note. Another fact that should stress the superiority of the French casino gambling in respect to others is that in France there are practically no online casinos, so all the revenues are made in the luxurious casino resorts all across the country. If we add to this that the monopolized gambling areas in France such as the lotto games and the horse betting are also not counted, then one acquires a good impression about the potency of the French casino market. 

Top three casino markets in Europe accrdoing to revenues in 2016:

• France: EUR 2.2 billion

• UK: EUR 1.35 billion

• Switzerland: EUR 651 million

After this trio follow: Germany with EUR 640 million, the Netherlands with EUR 548 million, Italy EUR 331 million, Austria EUR 300 million, Portugal with EUR 289 million etc. It has to be stressed that these statistics are referring to the casino revenues. However, several countries have substantial gaming activity outside the casino industry. For instance in Italy, slot machines throughout the country were reported to generate more than EUR 1.1 billion in 2010, and they were mostly located outside of casinos. Similarly, as it is pointed out by online gambling sites in EU, in the UK, slot machines generated more than EUR 900 million in total revenues in 2010.

Additional numbers regarding the European casino market

In order to have a more objective view on the data presented it is important to compare the proportion between the number of casinos, the visits, and the acquired revenue. Beside having most revenues France is also the country with most caisnos: 202 in total. It is the biggest gambling industry in Europe with over 14.000 casino employees noting more than 32 million visits in 2015.

The second place in terms of casino visits in Europe is hold by Portugal with 2.5 million visitors of the legal Portuguese casinos in 2015, however the acquired revenues amount to only EUR 289 million. Third is Germany with 5.6 million visitors in 2015. Germany has also the second biggest casino industry in Europe in terms of people employed, amounting to 5000 workers. It is interesting to note that Greece and Spain who also possess big casino sectors and accounted for 5 and 3 million visits respectively are ranked low on the list of acquired revenues.

It is interesting to note that Greece and Spain who also possess big casino sectors and accounted for 5 and 3 million visits respectively are ranked low on the list of acquired revenues. Needles to say that both casino industries employ one of the highest number of casino workers in Europe, 4900 and 3900 respectively. On the other side one of the most profitable casino industries in Europe, as gambling news report, is definitely the Swedish. With only 800 employees in 4 casinos in the country, the Swedish casino sector made EUR 130 million, out of 900.000 visits.