One of the clearest trends you can see in the development of gambling over the last twenty years is the move towards online gambling as the most popular form. Something similar has happened in a great many industries, and land based casinos and betting shops have by no means been completely replaced yet. Nonetheless, the figures for the popularity of online gambling in Ireland are fairly staggering and tell a wider story about the development of gambling habits more generally.
Let’s look at how big online gambling is in Ireland and how that compares to the past.
Overall betting share
The simplest, and perhaps most telling, figures to analyse are the revenue figures. The move online has been rapidly accelerating in recent years. Ireland generally are some of the most prolific gamblers in the world, the per capita figures placing them behind only Australia and Singapore in terms of betting habits per person.
In terms of online betting, Ireland makes up a fairly staggering 2.6% of Europe’s entire online betting revenue. This may not seem like a lot, but when you consider that Ireland accounts for only 1.1% of Europe’s population, it puts the figure into its proper perspective. The issue is, in reality, a lot more complicated than this, but it is nonetheless true that online gambling simply makes the activity easier to access.
Currently, around 44% of all online bets are made from smartphones or tablets. By 2025, this figure is expected to rise to at least 60% of all bets. Whether this will drive further overall betting numbers is hard to say, but it’s plain that smartphones do make accessing online betting a lot easier.
Different forms of betting make up vastly different proportions of the overall market, though, so it’s worth breaking these down individually. Let’s start with sports betting.
Sports betting
Sports betting is and has been the most popular form of betting in Ireland in terms of the amount of money individuals spend on sports betting. Sports betting accounts for 41% of all betting overall, with around half of all sports bets being made online. The number of sportsbook betting operators in Ireland has, naturally, exploded in recent years. No longer do betting companies need to have physical locations to be able to offer their services, meaning competition has massively expanded in recent years. Per person, the Irish currently spend around €500 on sports betting.
Football is, as is commonly the case, the most popular sport for betting. Increased online markets have further improved the popularity of football betting in Ireland. Betting on the English Premier League is extremely popular as well, and Liverpool and Manchester United are among the most popular teams to place bets on.
Other sports, like rugby, horse racing and even hurling also make up a large proportion of the Irish betting market. The market is plainly very varied, and the popularity of sports betting is due in no small part to the variety of markets available for betting on.
Let’s look at online casinos.
Online casinos
Online casinos are another hugely popular part of online betting in Ireland, and the growth is expected to continue to trend upwards in the coming years. For the Irish, both Irish and foreign online casinos are perfectly legal to play on, assuming the foreign operator has a license to offer its services in Ireland. This means the markets, again, are highly varied and there are many options available to Irish bettors.
Though more money tends to be spent per person in sports betting, online casino games are overall more popular in Ireland. The most popular form of gambling simply in terms of the number that participate is the National Lottery, with online casino games coming in at a close second. Even still, the lottery itself has also risen in popularity thanks to online betting as more and more are starting to play the lottery online.
Casino games are no doubt the most accessible form of gambling, though brick and mortar casino environments can be more than a little intimidating to new players. It is no surprise, then, that online casinos are so popular, with the most common activities being classic table games like blackjack. Online slots are also hugely popular and come in many different variations.
Conclusions
Between the prevalence of sports betting and the growing market for online casinos, it seems as though the online betting market in Ireland will only continue to expand. The online betting market is more accessible and far less intimidating for new bettors than either traditional sportsbook betting shops or land based casinos. Figures are of course only projections, but by 2027 it’s plain that the majority of bets will be placed online while land-based betting options hang on by a thinner and thinner thread.
