INTERNATIONAL STATISTICAL REVIEW OF THE ONLINE GAMBLING INDUSTRY
Online casinos hit the headlines over the last years, especially in terms of all gambling activities. By leaving brick and mortar venues in the past, online gambling websites are now leading, both in popularity and functionality. But do you really know that much about those digital platforms on the same level as our review team? That’s why we are here to present insights from the manual review of a total of 1374 online casinos.
You will certainly agree that such a comprehensive recension covers all the most relevant features of digital gambling, including software providers, languages available, currencies, and cross-platform capacities. For those interested in online gambling a bit more, you will undoubtedly find it interesting to get to know more about licensing, audit certificates, restricted countries, and all the payment methods. Our specialists manually reviewed all those 1374 online casinos, at the same time paying attention to various subcategories of all the mentioned features.
If you were long looking for the most detailed and comprehensive review of online gambling platforms, you’re just on the right page. There’s no doubt that a dazzling array of factors and features have to be considered before making a choice of a particular online casino. That’s why we were busy compiling the most relevant gambling information, alongside covering hundreds of the most popular online casinos.
It’s likely that you’ve heard about software providers, which are suppliers of gaming titles to gambling websites. The same applies to the support of various languages, licensing information, and even details regarding audit certification. All those features were manually reviewed in each of the 1374 gambling websites. Our online gambling industry statistics can easily be characterized as the most comprehensive review of all the gambling trends, features, and perks available.
All of us who gambled online at least once know that gaming isn’t just a one-sided process. Keeping this notion in mind, we had no other choice than to review what do the online gambling websites offer, especially paying attention to all the essential elements. Without any further explanations, the following review will cover the most prominent gambling trends in a total of 1374 online casinos, each of which had its own combinations of licenses, gameplay providers, and payment options. Are you already anticipated to get to know more about them? Don’t be too shy and just read our statistics on online gambling, as follows.
TOP 10 OF 206 OVERVIEWED PROVIDERS
Before moving any way further, let us introduce you with a genuinely essential characteristic of any gambling platform – a portfolio of gaming providers. Without any unnecessary introductions, let’s move on!
Any gambling website in 2020 wants to shine bright, much due to the availability of games kindly offered by the leading gaming providers. NetEnt has long grounded its firm grasp in hundreds of online casinos, alongside allowing access to infamous games, such as Gonzo’s Quest, Starburst, and the Jack Hammer. With a vast presence on the market of 62.95% from a total of 1374 casinos, NetEnt is a shiny star, for sure.
Microgaming is a company with the largest selection of online games, which is famous for its constant updates on existing titles and frequent additions of new gameplay modes. With a vast 59.75% coverage of the market, gambling enthusiasts seem to have strong preferences for the websites with the Microgaming software on the board.
Let’s be honest; Evolution Gaming is now everywhere. This company, with a niche in live dealer gaming modes, has a soaring presence in 581 websites in our list, which makes it a company for the competitors to count with.
The honorable mentions to Betsoft and Pragmatic Play, the games of which can be played in roughly every third casino. Such a presence is stunning, especially considering a diverse range of gaming options offered by these companies.
If you’re a fan of top 10 lists, don’t forget about ELK Studios, NextGen Gaming, Play n GO, and Quickspin, which form the second part of the ten most popular gaming providers.
Sometimes, it is more insightful to take a look at how many gaming providers are usually forming a portfolio of a particular gambling website. With a leading 23.73%, most online casinos consistently have from 11 to 20 gaming providers.
Since it is now hard to surprise anyone with one or two associated companies, these platforms offer the most flexibility to their loyal customer base. Those 19.58% casinos that have only one game provider are usually the Microgaming-based casinos, most of which you probably know already.
A massive proportion of the online casinos are also proud to have from 21 to 30 or from six to ten gaming providers with a share of 15.07% and 14.92%, respectively. Isn’t it obvious now that the golden rule of the more, the merrier is a cornerstone of most gambling activities?
TOP 8 OF 59 OVERVIEWED INTERFACE LANGUAGES
Even though English is now regarded as being the unofficial language of gambling, thanks to Vegas and countless British, Canadian, and American online clubhouses, a wide range of other languages are supported on online gambling websites.
Out of all 1374 reviewed online casinos, only 39 of them didn’t have any English support, marking a tiny fraction of 2.84% of websites without English at all. Another absolute leader is German, which is represented in 732 of 1374 online casinos.
It can become a real surprise for all gambling enthusiasts of Finnland to get to know that their mother tongue can be found in 34.21% of all the reviewed gambling websites. Once you are interested in top-fives, Norwegian and Swedish are the language options in a total of 439 and 391 online casinos, respectively.
Gamblers who would like to access interfaces and gaming options in French or Spanish should look for some time since only 360, and 326 gambling websites have these languages, accordingly.
Even more exciting insights can be found in the distribution of languages in these 1374 online casinos in terms of variability and access. Our review team found out that monolithic casinos that have only one language are 444, which is approximately one-third of all the examined platforms. The good news for all speakers of more than one language is that 233 online casinos support from six to ten languages.
Such variability is definitely an appeal to gambling enthusiasts all across the globe, which ultimately makes it a good sign for players who want to gamble on their native language that is other than English. Unfortunately, only 22 gaming websites of all 1374 platforms support from 21 to 47 languages, which is technically a tough task for editors, translators, and content makers, but an immense pleasure for all language hackers or polyglots.
All players from Russia or Italy can also play in their native languages in 326 and 246 gaming websites, respectively, whereas a total share of sites with 2, 3, 4, or 5 language modes is 12.37%, 8.01%, 10.26%, and 14.26%, accordingly.
From what we found out, the gambling industry does its best to diversify the language modes by adding at least a few other languages. A promising factor, yet, is a large share of casinos with the range from six to ten language modes, which became the most exciting insight in our online gambling statistics 2020.
TOP 10 OF 131 OVERVIEWED CURRENCIES
All players, regardless of their nationality and residence, are willing to have as many payment currency options as possible. In a digitalized era, most individuals have bank accounts or e-wallet account types in a few currencies. That’s why all those gambling enthusiasts are willing to have as many currency modes on gambling websites as possible to omit costly cross-currency conversions and commissions.
Based on our manual review of currencies, EUR is a real leader that is accepted in 1092 from 1374 online casinos (79.48%). It was a real surprise for our team to analyze our insights and find out that USD takes second place with a presence in a total of 901 gambling websites, which still makes it unavailable in 473 gaming platforms across the globe. The bronze model goes to GBP with its coverage of 798 of 1374 online casinos. We believe that Canadian readers are still here since CAD payment options can be found in 607 online casinos, which equals a 44.18% coverage in the reviewed 1374 websites.
As for the other popular currencies, such as SEK, NOK, AUD, NZD, and RUB, they are represented in 452, 431, 368, 246, and 203 online casinos, respectively. The situation becomes even more exciting when we take a look at how many currencies are supported at the same time on each of the reviewed 1374 gambling websites. To our surprise, narrowly-focused casinos still persist in overall structure, meaning that 337 online casinos have only one currency on the board, which makes it only a quarter of all platforms in our tremendous sample.
The second place goes to online casinos with five currency modes, which usually cover the four most popular currencies and an additional one, eventually being present in 12.30% of all gaming platforms.
Almost similar standings are present on the platforms with two, three, four, and six currencies since our review team found out 109, 131, 161, and 118 online casinos, respectively. What else intrigued us was a share of online gambling websites with a range from 11 to 20 currencies, which were present in a total of 94 of all 1374 online casinos. This online casino statistics explicitly displays that the choice of currency modes is vast, even though the largest category is the one that has only one currency mode on the board. If you are looking for the support of a few currencies, you will definitely find a preferred platform since the selection is now easier than ever.
7 Versions and Operating Systems for Online Gambling
We wouldn’t dare to compile our online gambling statistics without including a notion about the support of multiple versions and operating systems. The advent of online gambling has developed profoundly over the last few years, eventually expanding the versions of casinos and the lists of supported operating systems. Consider Flash, a leading technology for hosting gaming facilities all around the world, which is represented in a total of 1318 online casinos, which equals 95.92% of 1374 websites. The situation is quite similar while reviewing mobile gameplay, both ordinary and Web-based, which is present on 1302 and 1273 gambling websites, respectively. Gamblers all across the globe enjoy an Instant Play feature, which omits any downloadables. Fortunately for such fans, it is relatively easy to find such an option in 1211 online casinos of a total of 1374 platforms examined.
Live dealer game modes are now hitting trends in gaming tastes and preferences, whereas their presence has been spotted in a total of 871 gambling websites reviewed. The last two categories, which are downloadables and mobile applications, are the least popular options since only 347 and 179 online casinos have those modes, accordingly. When it comes to operating systems, our review team is confident in saying that those technologies that are regularly updated and maintained are still there in the case of online casinos.
Take Windows and Mac as the most prominent examples of operating systems that are (almost) always present in online casinos, whereas only three websites don’t have Windows support, and merely eight are lacking Mac support. The situation is quite similar to Linux, which distributive is lacking only in less than 5% of all 1374 reviewed casinos of our statistics of online gambling.
The fans of playing on the go via mobile operating systems also have numerous gameplay options, whereas the most popular platforms, such as iOS, Android, and Windows Phone, can access 1329, 1326, and 1275 online casinos, respectively. The only backpedaling player is Blackberry that hasn’t received many updates, eventually marking its presence in just 40.90% of all 1374 domains.
From what we can say after this part of our multifaceted examination is that most of the reviewed gambling websites have flexible levels of access to different versions and operating systems. That means you can easily grab your laptop, tablet, or smartphone and enjoy barrierless gaming on one of the examined gaming sites.
TOP 10 OF 32 OVERVIEWED GAMBLING LICENSES
Although licensing is underestimated by thousands of players, its role is colossal in terms of ensuring players’ safety, security, and gameplay integrity. In the midst of our review, we got interested in finding out more about various licenses of our sample of 1374 casinos.
The first place is held by two leading licensing bodies, namely the Curacao Gaming Control Board and the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, which issued a license to 507 and 499 online casinos, respectively. While the first one is easier to obtain, a license by the UK Gambling Commission is considered to be more credible, thanks to GamStop and various regulatory mechanisms.
Out of all 1374 gambling websites reviewed, 414 casinos held a license issued by the Malta Gaming Authority, another credible licensing body that operates in Malta (sic!). If you’re interested in all those formal top-fives, 194 and 75 gambling websites of the examined sample had licenses in Gibraltar and Sweden, accordingly. What is even more fascinating is a piece of online gambling marketing statistics regarding the number of licenses among the representatives of our sample list. A vast majority of online casinos reviewed, which are 837, held one license, which logically ensures eligibility and legality of its operation.
Don’t forget that some of the reviewed platforms have three or even four licenses issued by different regulatory bodies, which are 52 and 27 sites from the full list. These websites seem to be the most flexible in terms of accepting players from various countries across the globe. Check them out once you have uncertainties regarding your personal access to the online casino.
When it comes to the holders of two licenses, a stunning number of 434 gambling websites stood out, which forms a total of 31.59% in our sample. We won’t promote that single online platform that has five licenses, yet such representatives also exist, be sure.
Let’s be careful with 1.67% gambling platforms that don’t have any license, which are only 23 websites from a total of 1374 examined. If you are a newcomer in the domain of online gambling, those online casinos shouldn’t be even considered for long-term gameplay since there are no guarantees that withdrawal would be ever executed. Having reviewed each of the 1374 online gambling websites on the Web, we were satisfied with the results since licensing is one of the factors that should be considered in the first place.
TOP 9 ONLINE GAMBLING CERTIFICATES
Certification of a gambling platform has become an increasingly important factor for thousands of gamers who are fond of having all the information about Return to Player (RTP) rates and withdrawal timings. This feature allows players feeling themselves a bit more secure concerning RTPs and withdrawals since the outcomes of those audits are often open to the public. For more information about online casino market statistics in terms of certification, check out the following facts.
The most popular audit certification out of all 1374 online casinos reviewed is GamCare, which is present in a total of 633 gambling platforms. The second-most popular company for casino testing and player protection is Gambleware that has a stunning 36.90% share in our sample. The top-five fans will once again be amazed by the share of Gamblers Anonymous, eCOGRA, and iTech Labs, which conduct audits on 278, 200, and 155 online gambling websites, respectively.
One of the most critical insights from our review of the online casino games statistics was the fact that 29.33% didn’t have any audit certification at all. That means that a total of 403 online casinos are not subjected to any testing whatsoever from the side of audit certification companies. Such audit companies as GLI Certification, Kahnawake, and TST Certification were found in 31, 26, and 22 gambling websites, accordingly. Unique certifications, such as BMM Testlabs and Certified Fair Gambling, were represented only once in the entire sample of 1374 casinos. Although this is a less important aspect in comparison with licensing, players of these platforms can be uncertain about the payout speed and officially approved RTP rates for different gaming titles.
Once you’re wondering how many online casinos from the reviewed sample had only one audit certification, a stunning number of 776 gambling websites was identified. This means that slightly over half of all the reviewed gambling websites (56.48%) were audited by only one company.
FROM THE MOST RESTRICTED TO THE MOST ACCESSIBLE COUNTRIES FOR ONLINE GAMBLING
Unfortunately, gambling restrictions and allowances are still there since there is no universal regulation of online gaming all across the globe. That means that each country has its own list of internal rules and regulations regarding gambling activities. That’s why our review team identified the list of countries that are most restricted and the most accessible, as follows.
In our review of onling gambling statistics, we find it essential to shed light on the most restricted countries first. Israel and the United States are the leading countries in this anti-top of allowance with 86.32% and 84.93% proportion in our sample of 1374 online casinos.
Unfortunately for gamblers in France, Spain, Turkey, and Italy, they are restricted from playing in 1036, 907, 831, and 780 online gaming platforms, respectively. When we take other European countries into consideration, Romania, Hungary, and Denmark are worthy of mentioning since players from these states cannot play on 747, 746, and 726 gambling websites from a sample of 1374 websites.
What else stood out was the relatively high restriction ratio in the case of Australia, meaning that Aussies can access slightly higher than half of all 1374 online casinos. Another important piece of statistics online gambling is that not only European countries are banned from accessing online casinos from our samples, meaning that the examples of
Afghanistan (671) and Iran (661) are also insightful in terms of our sample. The situation drastically changes when we come to the examination of the most allowed countries in our sample. Gamblers from New Zealand, Norway, and Finland, who are only restricted from 128, 144, and 153 gambling platforms from our list, are lucky to have such a scale of access and availability in gaming. The similar statistics can be found in Lichtenstein and Iceland, which are the two countries, players of which are unwelcome in 170 and 172 online casinos of a total of 1374 platforms. Even though there is no such a single country that is welcome in absolute any online casino, the list is still flawless, eventually making the question of access extremely topical for most casual players. Let’s don’t forget about VPN technologies, which have proven to be the best friends of online gambling facilities over the last few years. Before making any further steps in terms of depositing or playing, be sure to double-check whether your country is in the list of allowed countries on the official website of a preferred casino.
DISTRIBUTION OF ONLINE GAMBLING PAYMENT METHODS
It might be just the right time to wrap up our statistics and graphs for online gambling facilities by covering the examined payment methods in our sample of 1374 online casinos all around the world. For most gamblers, the flexibility of banking options is one of the most appealing factors for choosing just the right gambling website. That’s why we paid attention to both deposit and withdrawal methods equally, eventually coming up with rather intriguing results.
When it comes to the absolute leaders in executing online cash transactions, we cannot go further without emphasizing a great presence of Visa and MasterCard, which are present on a total of 1322 and 1308 gambling websites, respectively. Although players can only make withdrawals in 1112 and 997 of those online casinos by using the same payment methods, the results are still remarkable.
It wouldn’t be a big secret to tell that more and more gambling enthusiasts now use e-wallets more often, leading to the increasingly fascinating popularity of Neteller and Skrill, whereas 1089 and 1007 gambling websites allow executing deposits with these e-wallets, accordingly. In turn, players can withdraw funds by using these two e-wallets in only 1025 and 955 cases.
We were surprised to get to know that a stunning number of 998 online casinos still allow deposits by using eCards, whereas only 469 from the entire sample are willing to proceed with withdrawals by this payment method.
One of the most convenient payment methods over the last years, which is Paysafecard, also managed to hold its presence in 981 gambling websites. In contrast, only 452 gaming platforms have the option of withdrawing winnings to their prepaid MasterCard account.
The good news for all the old-school fans of coping with financial operations is that an outstanding number of 966 online casinos support withdrawal options via Wire Transfer. The results are less significant in the review of deposit capacities since 555 gaming platforms accept players’ deposits via this payment option.
An honorable mention is Maestro, which has long been underestimated within the gambling community, whereas now it has a presence in 609 casinos that accept Maestro deposits as well as in 450 gambling websites with the withdrawal options.
From what can be seen from our graph, lots of other payment methods are accepted in our sample of 1374 online casinos, whereas the most popular except for the aforementioned ones are EcoPayz, Trustly, and SOFORT banking.
