The Countries With the Highest Online Gambling Rates, Ranked

You may see online gambling ads all over your favorite sporting events, and you may even be getting sick of them.

But what about the rest of the world? GWI took a look around the globe at countries where it’s most popular. The worldwide average for a country legally allowed to online gamble is 7.8% of the population. But those numbers can vary widely from continent to continent and country to country.

Check out the list put together by GWI (as reported by Visual Capitalist) to see which countries have the highest online gambling rates—and where the U.S. lands.

Europe Makes Most Top 10 Appearances

Europe leads with half the countries in the top 10, but the highest-ranked country is from somewhere else.

In South Africa, 32.3% of internet users over the age of 16 have used a gambling or betting website sometime in a month timeline, leading all countries. Online platforms, for example sports betting apps, have quickly grown in the country in the past few years, contributing to the rise. For the 2023-24 fiscal year, online betting was more than 60% of gambling revenue for the country, beating out traditional casinos.

Norway came in a close second with 31.2% of internet users gambling in one month of data. The country has a high rate despite having tight restrictions and laws, including mandatory loss limits and monitoring players for harmful behaviors. Greece came in third place with 25.8%, well below the percentage set by South Africa and Norway.

How the United States Ranks

You may be surprised to learn that the United States isn't in the top 10 countries with the highest rates of online gambling. After all, online gambling has taken over television ads and sports sponsorships all over the country.

Despite that, the United States only ranks 38th. Data from GWI found that around 10.2% of Americans over the age of 16 who have used the internet in the past month have gambled online. That puts the country between Poland at 10.4% and Italy and 10.1%.

Even with just slightly more than 10% of internet users over 16 years old gambling online, the market is still a major revenue generator in the country. In 2025, the market size of online gambling was more than $31.8 billion, with the industry expected to increase to around $50 billion by the year 2030.

Online gamblers are more likely to be men than women. A 2024 survey by Fairleigh Dickinson University found that 15% of men said they had taken part in online gambling before while only 6% of women had participated.