Lesson 3 of 4 Math checked Facts checked against sources on 2 October 2026 12 min

Games and betting region by region: who plays, who bets, and what is allowed

How games and betting are allowed, taxed and led in the United States, the UK and Europe, India, the Gulf, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, Africa and Latin America.

Industry brief, with a one-minute summary: Video games and betting

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Key takeaways

Video games are sold almost everywhere, with rules mainly on age ratings, loot boxes and, in China, approval of each game.
United States: the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on state sports betting in Murphy v.
UK: gambling businesses earned GBP 17.5 billion of gross gambling yield in the year to March 2026, of which GBP 8.3 billion online (Gambling Commission).
India: before the 2025 ban, fantasy sports and real-money card games were large businesses.

Key idea

Video games are sold almost everywhere, with rules mainly on age ratings, loot boxes and, in China, approval of each game. Betting is the opposite: what is legal, how it is taxed and who may advertise changes completely from one country, and in the United States from one state, to the next. In a betting case, the first question is always what the law allows in this market, and the second is the tax.

Games and betting by region (main rules and players, checked October 2026; rules change often)

Games and betting by region (main rules and players, checked October 2026; rules change often)
Region	Games	Betting and lotteries
United States	Large console and PC market; publishers EA (private since August 2026), Take-Two, Activision Blizzard (Microsoft)	Sports betting legal in 39 states and Washington DC since a 2018 Supreme Court ruling; state taxes on revenue range from 20 percent in Ohio to a top rate of 40 percent in Illinois; federally regulated prediction markets now compete
UK and Europe	Publishers Ubisoft (France), CD Projekt (Poland), Embracer (Sweden); EU app store rules under the Digital Markets Act	UK: licensed online betting and casino; online casino duty raised from 21 to 40 percent in April 2026; one licensed National Lottery (Allwyn). Many EU states license online operators nationally
India	Huge mobile player base, low spending per player	Online money games banned by the Online Gaming Act 2025, with rules in force from May 2026; 40 percent GST on betting and online money gaming from September 2025
Gulf	Saudi Arabia's Savvy Games Group (owned by PIF) is a major buyer of game companies	Gambling banned in most Gulf states; the UAE set up a federal regulator in 2023, licensed a national lottery in 2024, and a casino resort (Wynn Al Marjan) is due to open in 2027
Southeast Asia	Fast-growing mobile markets; Sea's Garena in Singapore	Philippines: state regulator PAGCOR; offshore operators serving foreigners banned from the end of 2024. Singapore: two casino resorts and a state betting operator
China	Tencent and NetEase lead; each game needs a state licence; minors may play online only one hour on Fridays, weekends and holidays	Betting banned on the mainland except state lotteries; Macau runs casinos under six 10-year concessions from 2023
Japan	Nintendo, Sony, Capcom, Square Enix, Bandai Namco	State-run lotteries and public racing; the first casino resort (Osaka) approved in 2023 and due around 2030
Africa	Growing mobile play	Large online sports betting markets: online betting was about 60 percent of South Africa's gambling revenue in the year to March 2025; Kenya changed its excise duty to 5 percent of deposits in July 2025
Latin America	Large mobile and PC audiences in Brazil and Mexico	Brazil licensed online betting under a December 2023 law, then a provisional measure of 25 September 2026 banned fixed-odds betting and online casino games; Congress must approve it for it to last

So-what

Betting markets can open or close by law in a year, as India in 2025 and Brazil in 2026 showed. Any betting plan needs a case for the rules changing, not only for demand.

Next lesson: Games and betting players, trends 2024 to 2026, and how to crack the cases All lessons in Video games and betting: publishers, platforms, sportsbooks and lotteries

Region notes that come up in cases

United States: the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban on state sports betting in Murphy v. NCAA on 14 May 2018. By early 2026, 39 states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico had legalised it. Commercial gaming revenue reached a record USD 78.7 billion in 2025, with USD 18.1 billion paid in gaming taxes (American Gaming Association).
UK: gambling businesses earned GBP 17.5 billion of gross gambling yield in the year to March 2026, of which GBP 8.3 billion online (Gambling Commission). Online slots stakes were capped at GBP 5 a spin from April 2025, and GBP 2 for players aged 18 to 24 from May 2025. A new 25 percent duty on online betting starts in April 2027.
India: before the 2025 ban, fantasy sports and real-money card games were large businesses. The Act now bans offering or advertising online money games, with prison terms of up to three years for offering them, while allowing e-sports and social games.
Gulf: the UAE's General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority licensed The Game LLC in July 2024 as the country's first authorised lottery; Wynn Resorts, which owns 40 percent of the Al Marjan Island project, expects to open in 2027.
Southeast Asia: Philippine gaming revenue reached PHP 396.14 billion in 2025, about half from e-games and online. In Singapore, Marina Bay Sands earned USD 2.92 billion of adjusted property EBITDA in 2025.
China: Tencent's domestic games revenue was RMB 164.2 billion in 2025 and its international games RMB 77.4 billion, up 33 percent. Macau casinos earned MOP 247.4 billion of gross gaming revenue in 2025, up 9.1 percent.
Japan: Nintendo's sales almost doubled to JPY 2,313.0 billion in its year to March 2026 after the Switch 2 launched on 5 June 2025, selling 19.86 million units in that year. Sony's games segment earned a record JPY 463.3 billion of operating income in the same year.
Africa: South Africa's gambling revenue was R74.5 billion in the year to March 2025, with online betting R44.5 billion. Nigeria's Supreme Court ruled in November 2024 that states, not the federal government, regulate lotteries and gaming outside Abuja (as reported by a Nigerian law firm).
Latin America: Brazil's 2023 betting law set a licence fee of up to BRL 30 million for five years and a tax on gross gaming revenue that rose from 12 percent to 13 percent in 2026. Under the September 2026 measure, licences end 30 days after it was published.

Timed math drill

South Africa's gambling revenue was R74.50 billion in the year to March 2025, of which online betting was R44.46 billion. What share was online betting, as a decimal? (Round to two decimals.)

Check your understanding

A European sportsbook wants to enter a new country. What should it establish before sizing the market?

Terms in this lesson

Market share Barriers to entry VAT and GST Penetration rate ARPU (average revenue per user)

Sources for this lesson (31)

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It builds on what you just read, in Video games and betting: publishers, platforms, sportsbooks and lotteries.

Next lesson: Games and betting players, trends 2024 to 2026, and how to crack the cases All lessons in Video games and betting: publishers, platforms, sportsbooks and lotteries

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