The Balkan Gambling Market

After expanding in continental and southern Europe, the global gambling industry is now going east and focusing on the Balkan states and Eastern Europe for its further expansion. Especially the Balkan states are increasingly drawing a lot of interest: Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, and Bulgaria – already have a remarkable market size, and most experts confirm that the Balkan markets have a great growth potential in the coming years. Total gambling market of Euro 4.5 billion – In 2007 the total gross revenue (after payout of prizes) of the Balkan gambling market was ca. Euro 4.5 billion according to MECN’s latest study about the region: the figure for turnover/wagers came to ca. Euro 25 billion. These figures include only gambling operations with local licenses. If the business of foreign online gambling operators were included, the overall market size would exceed Euro 5 billion. Great growth potential – More than 60% of the experts surveyed by MECN believe that the growth potential of the Balkan gambling market is great or even very great. Hardly any market insiders (only 3% all surveyed experts) believe the market has only a small growth potential. (Increasing liberalisation – On the whole, the experts believe that the Balkan nations will liberalise their gambling markets). Total Balkan online gambling market worth ca. Euro 520 million. The Balkan markets enjoy a growing Internet and broadband penetration. In total, there are about 43 million Internet users (average penetration rate of ca. 36%) and about 7 million broadband connections. Nevertheless, these figures are below the European average and still leave room for significant growth. According to MECN’s estimates, the Balkan states as a whole have an online gambling market worth about Euro 520 million (gross revenue), and most of the revenue is made by foreign operators without local licenses. But the market size differs significantly from country to country, and Turkey and Greece have the largest markets. More and more Internet operators are adding Balkan languages and currencies to their localised offerings. As the exhibit below shows, nearly all of the operators analysed offer localised versions in Turkey and Greece whereas Serbia and Montenegro still seem to be uncharted territory in this respect.