Platforms now rival traditional betting groups in scale despite their services being illegal in most countries

Crypto casino takings have soared to tens of billions of dollars a year, new data shows, as gamblers bypass blocks in their home countries to bet on unregulated offshore platforms. Despite being illegal in most countries, wagers paid in cryptocurrency last year generated $81.4bn in gross gaming revenue (GGR), the difference between bets taken in and winnings paid out, according to research by anti-online-crime platform Yield Sec — a fivefold rise since 2022. “It’s explosive growth everywhere,” said Yield Sec founder Ismail Vali. While crypto gambling sites are blocked in jurisdictions from the US and China to the EU and UK, they remain easily accessible via VPN, mirror links or URL redirection, experts, campaigners and former users told the Financial Times. “Consumers know this,” according to Jordan Lea, a former problem gambler who now campaigns against the industry’s harms. He said “guides as to how you circumnavigate the geoblocking” were freely available online and often offered by influencers who “specifically push” users in, while crypto casino user accounts could be bought on peer-to-peer marketplaces. Incorporated in jurisdictions where crypto gambling is legal, such as Curaçao, Malta, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar, companies that operate crypto casinos, including Stake, Rollbit and Roobet, now rival the biggest traditional gambling groups in scale. Stake, operated by Curaçao-incorporated Medium Rare, claims to account for up to 4 per cent of total transactions on the global bitcoin network, with 25mn users placing 300bn bets on the platform since its 2017 launch. Its GGR last year was $4.7bn, up 80 per cent from 2022, according to the company. That makes it a serious competitor to some of the world’s biggest traditional gambling groups. Entain and Flutter reported total revenues for last year of £5bn and $14bn, respectively, while Bet365’s revenue for the year to March 2024 was £3.7bn. None of the three report GGR.