What impact the iGaming industry has on the German economy

The German economy has been in crisis for months. It has shown minimal growth in recent years. It is precisely the weakness of the car industry that worries politicians in this country. At a time of ongoing Job’s messages about Germany’s economic decline, industries that hold their own despite adverse circumstances are often ignored.

One of these industries is iGaming, which continues to experience rapid growth. The same growth as players at these online casino games.

But what exactly defines the iGaming industry that keeps making a name for itself? In principle, iGaming is virtual gambling over the Internet, which is where the „I” in the name comes from. However, this definition is a little limited, as one can define industry both broadly and narrowly. Applying the narrowest definition of iGaming, only online sports betting is considered part of this industry. These providers were the first offers on the network to receive enough attention to create a new name.

However, this narrow definition is often considered outdated, which is why it is usually expanded today. Sports betting itself is part of the larger gambling industry. So the breadth of offerings under the name iGaming was also expanded to include all branches of online gambling. These include online casinos, online lotteries, virtual poker and online bingo.

For a few years now, there has been an even broader definition that also includes companies on the periphery of iGaming as part of the industry. For example, comparison and evaluation platforms such as Casinotopsonline.com/de or software providers such as SOFTSWISS are seen as part of the iGaming industry. They are included because they provide an essential service to the iGaming industry. Comparison sites like Casinotopsonline.com/de help players find safe and tested online casinos. Without these platforms, industry would not exist in its current form.

The iGaming industry is growing

As mentioned at the beginning, a number of industries are in crisis. However, the iGaming industry has so far been able to escape this crisis. Sales and profits have grown again in the last year and have led to an expansion of the offering. More on the hard numbers later.

The growth of iGaming’s offering can be attributed primarily to two factors. For one thing, there are more and more countries where online gambling is regulated and is thus disappearing from illegality or the grey area. This opens up new markets for suppliers, who can generate correspondingly more sales and profit. On the other hand, access to the services is also facilitated by the ever-increasing adaptation of the Internet. This will allow more people to access online casinos and enable the industry to continue growing.

The DACH region and Germany as a populous country plays a central role in this global market. Offers in German theoretically have a target group of almost 100 million native speakers in Europe, which have not yet been developed. There is true gold rush sentiment in the industry, which has only been exacerbated by gambling regulation in 2021. This is particularly noticeable in the economy and especially in the German state treasury.

Read more: How Local Forums and Chat Groups Enhance Digital Play

The iGaming industry in Germany in numbers

The iGaming industry is putting a lot of money in the pockets of the German state. In 2024, a total of 2.5 billion euros were paid in taxes. The lottery tax accounts for the lion’s share of these taxes at almost 1.7 billion euros. Online poker earned the state 35 million, while sports betting earned 423 million and online slot games contributed another 213 million euros.

It should be noted that revenue from slots has decreased, as many illegal providers are operating, especially in the area of slot machine games, and are evading the tax. Nevertheless, these figures are impressive. In comparison, the entire music streaming market generated only €1.65 billion in revenue in 2023, making the resulting taxes significantly lower than those of the gaming industry.

In general, the iGaming industry’s revenue in Germany in 2023 is estimated at around 14 billion euros, with a profit of around 4.2 billion euros. Figures from 2024 are not yet known, but are estimated to show growth of between 2 percent and 5 percent. When comparing it again with the music streaming industry, it becomes clear that the iGaming sector is almost ten times larger than Spotify and the like. This is also reflected in the industry’s effect on the labor market.