A new report on US online gambling reveals approximately 74% of all revenue came from unlicensed offshore operators. These illegal platforms generated around $67.1 billion of the total $90.1 billion GGR, leaving regulated sites with just $23 billion, or 26% of the market. The study was carried out by the Campaign for Fairer Gambling, along with analytics firm Yield Sec, and looked at statistics from last year. And while legal gambling on the web saw a 26% increase year over year, illegal operators grew even faster, with a 64% surge.

The report noted a significant disparity in market presence, with 917 offshore US online gambling platforms to just 95 legal ones. These were supported by 668 illegal affiliates—six times more than those promoting legal operators. Yield Sec CEO Ismail Vali attributed the growth of the illegal gambling sector to operator efforts to avoid taxes and regulations, allowing them to offer more generous bonuses and a wider selection of games.

Licensed sites captured only about 12% of total audience exposure to internet  gambling in 2024, while offshore platforms expanded their reach by targeting major sporting events and using mainstream digital marketing. The report calls for coordinated action among regulators, technology providers, and governments to curb illegal gambling and protect the integrity of the regulated market, but warned that legalization correlates with an overall increase in consumer gambling losses, rather than a shift from illegal to legal platforms.

State-level analysis showed that legal operators held more than half of the market in states such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Michigan, capturing about 57% to 58% of GGR. In contrast, US online gambling in larger states with limited or no regulated web based betting options—like California, Texas, and Ohio—illegal operators dominated. For example, in Ohio, unregulated platforms accounted for 85% of total gambling revenue online, with per capita online casino losses reaching $316 and sports betting losses at $130.