Ranked: Countries With the Highest Online Gambling Rates
South Africa and Norway lead global online gambling participation, while the U.S. lags behind despite its large market.Summary
A visualization ranks 48 markets by the share of internet users aged 16 and older who visited online gambling or betting sites or apps in the previous month, based on GWI's Q2 2025 survey published in the Digital 2026 Global Overview Report. South Africa leads at 32.3%, followed by Norway (31.2%), Greece (25.8%), New Zealand (24.0%), and Ghana and Hungary tied at 21.5%. The U.S. has a lower rate of 10.2%, below Canada (14.3%) and other English-speaking markets like the UK (19.6%) and Australia (18.0%). South Korea has the lowest at 2.7%. The article highlights South Africa's booming gambling industry, driven by sports betting, with turnover of R1.1 trillion in 2023/24, and Norway's high participation despite strict regulations. It also notes wide regional variations, such as South Africa's rate being over four times Morocco's, and explains that participation rates measure widespread activity, not revenue, as the U.S. ranks second globally by online gambling revenue.
(Source：Google News)