Crypto casinos around the world enjoy a tenuous status at best. All major jurisdictions formally prohibit or at least do not regulate these casino sites, whether in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, or the United Kingdom.
Crypto casinos rake in billions unperturbed by unclear legal status
Yet, despite the legal and regulatory cold shoulders, crypto casinos are surging in popularity and were able to bring in more than $81.4bn in gross gaming revenue in 2024 alone, according to a new survey by Yield Sec, an online company that focuses on online crime in the sector, as reported originally by The Financial Times.
In the report, Yield Sec specified that the $81.4bn generated in GGR is a metric that refers to the difference between the total stakes placed by players and the winnings paid out. To put things in perspective, the GGR for the crypto casino sector has increased by a factor of five since 2022.
Yield Sec dived into further examining the landscape for crypto casinos and identified clear and well-established leaders. According to the firm’s analysis, Stake has been able to single-handedly pull in $4.7bn in GGR in 2024 alone, or 80% more since 2022, attesting to its rapid growth in popularity and global dominance.
To understand how much this is, it’s enough to compare Stake with traditional gaming majors, such as Entain, which reported $5bn in GGR in 2024.
While Stake has been actively working to obtain licenses and operate in some of the world’s biggest jurisdictions – including the United Kingdom and Brazil, although it had to withdraw from the former in 2024 – other crypto operators have been less mindful.
In Stake’s case, the company has acknowledged that to enter and operate in certain jurisdictions, it had to revamp local domains as fiat-currency-focused gambling platforms, as is the company’s recent foray in the Brazilian iGaming market.
Most crypto casinos have been reluctant to follow suit, however. They have remained in international waters and have only offered their products without seeking to obtain licenses in every jurisdiction where their products are available.
Barriers erected by regulators are torn down by player ingenuity
Therefore, many have been subjected to fines, but with few options to enforce those fines, operators have gone mostly unscathed. Short of blocking websites, regulators have mostly come empty-handed, and even blocking could prove unlawful in some instances, as events in Germany recently demonstrated.
In the meantime, users who have faced minor restrictions have been quick to cotton onto a new trend – VPNs, which allow them to circumvent a barrier and still play.
The Netherlands Gambling Authority has accused dozens of websites of making it possible for Dutch players to play at their websites if only they found a way to connect (read use a VPN).
The Yield Sec report is telling as it demonstrates the staying power of the crypto casino and its continuous rise to salience. However, the fact remains that most of these crypto casinos are not regulated, nor are they likely to be any time soon.
Why are crypto casinos surging
For Matej Novota, Head of Data & Complaints at Casino Guru, the reasons for this surge are the result of multiple trends across the globe and in regulated markets. While he acknowledges KYC and AML procedures are an important driver of interest in crypto casinos, he also takes a much broader view of the phenomenon:
"I don't believe it's the only reason, but it is certainly one of the contributing factors. We had a conversation on a similar topic recently, discussing how age demographics may influence the future of crypto casinos. From my perspective, the absence of KYC/AML procedures is indeed a key reason for some users choosing crypto casinos — especially for those who might struggle to deposit funds into a regulated casino due to source-of-funds requirements."
"For others," he adds, "it’s more about economic circumstances: in countries experiencing hyperinflation, cryptocurrencies or foreign currencies (which can be difficult to obtain) are sometimes the only viable way to preserve value," touching on the financial and economic justifications of opting for those casinos instead of traditional ones.
Novota explains that players are also turning to crypto casinos as an alternative to overly restrictive domestic markets, which are pushing an ever-growing number of players to experiment with the offshore market due to frustration with the regulated options at home:
"Many players, crypto casinos also offer an escape from overly restrictive regulated markets, such as in Germany, where strict regulations and enforcement make traditional online gambling frustrating or inaccessible. In such cases, crypto casinos are appealing because it's significantly more difficult for governments to block them from accepting players or processing transactions."
But not all about the current trend ought to be put down to players railing against a regulated market that is making it increasingly difficult to access the gambling products they want to enjoy. Rather, there is a much better understanding of what cryptocurrencies are and how they can be used in recreational activities such as online gambling.
"Another important factor is the increasing perceived stability of cryptocurrencies. Five years ago, many people were skeptical, viewing crypto as a high-risk asset. However, the longer cryptocurrencies remain part of the financial landscape without major collapses, the more trust they earn among the general public," Novota explains, offering an interesting insight into the driver behind Yield Sec’s latest figure for gross gaming revenue generated by crypto casinos in 2024.
