Publication date: 02 Feb 2023

January 2023 brought a lot of new and interesting things to the gambling market! More and more countries are planning to legalise casinos and betting companies. And where gambling operators are already working in the legal field, record profits are being counted! 3S.INFO has found all the important information about the developments in the betting and gambling market in January 2023.

New laws and new opportunities for gambling

In Brazil, the authorities have remembered gambling after all! According to Senator Angelo Coronel, a bill to regulate gambling and betting will be discussed in 2023.
“Brazil should not be isolated from other great powers that have already regulated gambling laws and increased their income through tax revenues. Nowadays, gambling in Brazil is free, without paying 1 cent in taxes for Brazilians,” the lawmaker said.

• Read the new review on 3S.INFO: How to promote online betting and gambling in Belgium? 

The Principality of Liechtenstein has held a vote to ban casinos in the state. Proponents of the ban pointed out that “casinos contribute to gambling addiction” and have a bad impact on the image of the state, which has only recently “achieved an exclusion from the blacklist of tax havens”.
Casino advocates, among them Prince Hans-Adam II, believe that “a radical ban does not solve the problem of gambling addiction”. Meanwhile, the gambling industry is an important source of the budget: in 2022, Liechtenstein received €50 million in taxes.
Ultimately 73% of the voters supported the casino industry! 

In the USA, more and more states are planning to allow casinos and sports betting in 2023. In January, Hawaii (one of only two states with a total gambling ban) proposed the creation of a gambling regulator. Hawaii has proposed the creation of a gambling regulator, the Hawaii Lotteries and Gaming Corporation, to organize and regulate gambling. 

Kenya has introduced new rules for gambling operators: taxes will now be levied daily! Bookmakers must transfer the required amount by 1 a.m. the next day. It is planned that this will help to fight tax arrears. Experts estimate that about $331,000 will be collected on a daily basis.

In India, the government has introduced new rules for regulating online gambling! The authorities have rejected the creation of a single regulator and state control. Instead, gambling and betting operators are invited to set up self-regulatory bodies, set their own rules and monitor their implementation. The new body could also include representatives from players, gambling sector experts, psychologists and public policy experts. 

Finland is another country that has decided to go for licensing of casinos and betting shops. The country now has a gambling monopoly, which is owned by Veikkaus. Its owners specified that the company’s revenues have plummeted recently, suggesting that Finns are gambling and betting on offshore zones.
Changing the way, the gambling industry works in Finland will require new legislation. Nevertheless, this may be delayed as the country will hold parliamentary elections in April 2023.

How much money is made from gambling: January 2023

In January 2023, it was calculated how much different countries earned from online gambling.

According to SafeBettingSites, the UK came in first place with $12.5 billion in revenue.  The United States came second with $11 billion, followed by Australia with $6.5 billion and then Italy with $4.5 billion and France with $3.8 billion.

In the US, the sports betting market will reach $74 billion in 2022, according to Sportsbook Review. And that’s 68.2% more than in 2021. The leading betting state is New Jersey ($31 billion), with Nevada in second place ($27 billion) and Pennsylvania in third ($17 billion).

Deutsche Bank estimates that from January to November 2022, gross revenue from online casinos in the US was $4.5 billion. That’s a 36% increase over the same period in 2021.

January is the time to take stock of 2022’s revenue:

• In Lithuania, online gambling revenue was €121.7 million. This is 18.6% more than for 2021.  At the same time, sports betting brought in €34.9 million. Yet the average amount spent by Lithuanians on betting has grown by 44% during the year. Let us remind you that there are 39 gambling licenses issued in Lithuania now.
• In Denmark, the income from online gambling has reached record levels! In 2022, the total revenue was about $991.4 million, which is 7.5% more than last year. The largest segment with revenues of $421 million was online casinos! This is the largest amount since the legalisation of gambling in Denmark, which took place in 2012.
• In Spain, gambling data is only for the third quarter of 2022, but they are also impressive. Gross revenue from gambling and betting in this period reached €240.8 million, which is 31.3% more than the same period a year ago. Sports betting earned €89 million, 46.2% more than in the second quarter.
• Legal betting companies in Russia earned 879.3 billion roubles in 2022. The online sector accounted for 92% of revenues.