IBIA and H2 launch “first-of-its-kind” study ranking 20 regulated markets

The study – which can be read in full on the IBIA’s website – assesses the strengths and weaknesses of licensing regimes across five different areas: regulation, tax, product, integrity and advertising. It was conducted using data from a variety of major regulated betting operators, which represent almost 50% of all commercial online betting globally.

“The study and its contents can rightly be justified as unprecedented,” IBIA chief executive Khalid Ali said. “H2 has conducted a detailed examination of product data covering $137bn (£97bn/€112bn) in turnover, along with its own market data. 

“The result is a report that provides a never-seen-before insight into global consumer demand, integrity risks and regulatory practices. In doing so, it reveals the core facets of a successful regulatory framework for betting. 

“IBIA hopes that these evidenced-based findings will assist the important ongoing global betting and integrity debate.”

In addition, trade associations the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC), Branscheforenigen för Onlinespel (BOS), The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), Jdigital and NOGA were also involved in the report.

David Henwood, director of H2, said a number of factors were important in creating a strong regulatory system.

“Our assessment of the various regulatory models in operation around the world has determined the key factors that are most likely to generate a successful well-regulated betting market: unlimited licensing, competitive GGR tax, wide product offering, integrity provisions and balanced advertising parameters,” he said. “That position and our betting product and integrity evaluation is based on the most extensive and detailed collection of market data that has ever been assembled. 

“The report’s findings are therefore unique and illuminating.”  

From the data used in the report, the IBIA and H2 listed “ten pillars of an optimum betting market”. 

These pillars include offering of both land-based and online betting, unlimited or “market maximising” licence numbers, licence fees that reflect regulatory costs, “robust bt practical” player protection measures and betting tax at around 15-20% of GGR.

In addition, the report said there should not be any “overly burdensome” additional taxes, there should be a wide product offering in terms of both channels and betting markets, integrity protocols should be in place and advertising rules should be “balanced”.

While the report’s work on assessing regulatory markets was a major piece of the report, it also including a section overviewing the global market and a chapter around sporting integrity.

In assessing the overall market, the report predicted that global betting turnover will reach $767bn by 2025, with revenue of $106bn. Online betting, meanwhile, overtook land-based betting for the first time in 2020 and is expected to hold that leading position.

In the integrity chapter, the report assessed the global cost of match-fixing to operators at $25m per year. In addition, it noted that only a small portion of events trigger suspicious betting reports, with 99.96% featuring no report. Most suspicious betting also tends to happen in a different country to the match the bets are on, which the report said makes many restrictions on betting intended for integrity reasons less effective.

iGB will continue to publish insights from the report over the coming days, including a full breakdown of the ranking of markets and more detail on both the global overview and the cost of match-fixing. The report can be read in full here.