Jackpot! Online Gambling Stats & Facts
By Alex J. Coyne © Great Bridge Links
Online gambling is a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide – and in some countries it’s even started to overtake the popularity of going to a real-life brick and mortar casino. It’s not hard to see why: Online casinos give you the real casino experience, but you don’t have to leave your house, deal with people or put on a fancy outfit. Here are some online gambling statistics and facts that might surprise you.
Global Gambling
Just how much is online gambling worth as a whole? According to Statista, in 2016 the size of the global gambling market was estimated to be 450 billion U.S. dollars, this was forecasted to rise to 495 billion U.S. dollars by 2019.
The Super Bowl
In 2024, a record-breaking amount of money was wagered with sports books in the U.S. state of Nevada on the Super Bowl. That year, over 185 million U.S. dollars were bet on the 58th edition of the NFL’s biggest game of the season, which saw the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers in overtime to win their second Super Bowl in as many years. The previous record had been set in 2022, when the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals to win their first Super Bowl since 2000.
Online Poker
So, just what about online poker? According to an article we found on Poker Players’ Research that includes statistics from 2009, approximately 3.8% of adults in the US play online poker for money. As for how Canada stacks up against the rest, about 3.2% adults in comparison – which isn’t that far behind. But the highest statistic from the list happens to be Scandinavia, who has a pretty incredible 6.2% of its population betting cash on online poker games.
Is there really such a thing as online Bingo?
I would have thought the charm of Bingo is the fact that most of the time we play it in a room full of people – sometimes hundreds of people. The chit chat at a bingo table is a huge part of the fun. So it’s no suprise to discover that one of the most popular attractions for online bingo are the bingo chat rooms. You can find out about chat rooms and more at the UK’s Bingo Portal https://onlinebingo.co.uk/
Online in Denmark
Online gambling happens to be really popular in Denmark. Just how popular? Well, this article on iGamingBusiness says that online gambling revenue in Denmark was earning far more than traditional casinos – an incredible 51.5% of total gambling revenue was brought in by online gambling. The same article also mentions that 50% of online gamblers are males aged younger than 35.
Gambling in the UK
Just what does the gambling industry look like in the UK? According to official statistics provided by the UK National Gambling Commission, online casinos and remote betting accounted for as much as 34% of the market share in 2017, as opposed to 33% measured a year before. The remote gambling sector – that is online gambling through various ways including slots and poker – was estimated to be worth an incredible 4.7 billion pounds.
The Largest Online Casino Jackpot
According to Guinness World Records, the largest online casino slots jackpot ever belongs to Jon Heywood from the UK. While playing the Mega Moolah slot machine from Betway, he won an incredible $20,062,600 jackpot – most people will only ever dream of taking home winnings that big in their lifetime!
The First Online Casino
So, where did all of this start? Most experts agree that the first online casino to be registered is InterCasino, which was registered on the 3rd of July 1996 according to its website registration info. And, the coolest thing about this is that InterCasino casino still exists if you feel like a trip through the ages.