The global gambling sector could reach $700 billion in annual sales by 2028, according to the World Health Organisation, but the industry is undergoing what the evidence describes as unprecedented disruption.
US commercial gambling revenue reached $78.7 billion in 2025, with sports betting up 22.8% to $17 billion and online casinos up 27.6% to $10.7 billion, according to Ashley Akin of Prop Firm App. Dan Wasiolek, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar, said the decade-long boom in the United States has been by far the biggest story in the global gambling industry.
Competition from prediction markets is a major source of uncertainty for investors in gambling stocks, especially those linked to US online bookmakers. Prediction markets are regulated as financial products by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, allowing them to bypass state regulations. A coalition of 39 states is supporting a legal challenge arguing they should be regulated at the state level.
Betting consultancy H2 Gambling Capital estimated that prediction markets took about 27% of legal US sports-betting volume in the first month of the World Cup, up from 9% at the start of the year. Joao Mourato, head of iGaming Product at VIP-Grinders, said there is increasing evidence that prediction markets are already starting to steal customers from sportsbooks.