Last Updated: September 14, 2023
This page is dedicated to all players across Europe looking for the perfect online casino to play at. When it comes to European online casinos, it is not only important to highlight what each casino has to offer, but also exactly what countries they do accept. Not all countries across the continent are allowed to play at every online casino as there can possibly be restrictions.
Quick links to our most visited European countries:
Austria – Denmark – Estonia – Finland – Germany – Iceland – Ireland – Lithuania – Malta – Netherlands – Norway – Poland – Sweden
Although this guide seems to be mainly focused on the European Union (EU) countries, many countries in Europe who are not members of the EU can still play. Therefore, this guide is for the European continent as a whole. We do have a full list of restricted countries in each individual casino review, so you can check your country there to be sure.
About European Gambling in General
Europe has one of the biggest online gambling populations, thanks to the authorities’ relaxed nature when enforcing gambling laws. Therefore, it is not surprising that European online casinos are popular.
In fact, they account for about 47.6% of the global revenue from online casinos. Moreover, in 2018, the EU generated €22.2 billion from online casinos, and projected the revenues will increase to €29.3 billion in 2022.
Overall, there is no policy adopted by the EU prohibiting online gambling in EU member states. Instead, each EU state has taken upon itself to regulate online gambling.
In this European online casinos guide, you will discover the online casino trends in these European member states. So, with that being said, here is our guide to the best European Casino Sites.
Austria Online Casinos
Online gambling is legal in Austria, although it is highly regulated. The best EU online casinos wishing to offer their services to Austrian citizens must apply for a license. They must also open a local office in Austria.
Those that fail to comply with that law get blacklisted without notification.
However, with a population of over 8 million, of which 42% are gambling fans, Austria is still an attractive market. The large gambling population also makes the Austrian gambling market vibrant, with a wide choice of online and offline games.
As of 2017, the gambling revenues stood at 330 million Euros.
A majority of the population prefers to place bets on soccer games, especially on clubs playing on German’s Bundesliga. Austrian clubs are not as popular because Viennese clubs dominate the local league.
Other online games that are popular include Poker, which most players can access online.
In 2007, Nikolaus Jedlicka became the most popular gambler, after he won $3 million. Further, Austrians wagered over 14 billion Euros in 2012, with a huge chunk of the bets going to online casinos. While online casinos experienced a 7% growth, slot machines saw a 10% drop in revenue.
While Austrians enjoy gambling online, the gambling scene is highly regulated. Unfortunately, the European Court of Justice ruled in favor of the Austrian government, stating it complies with EU law. However, there are no strong measures put in place to protect problem gamblers.
Selected European casino sites for Austrians:
Denmark Casino Sites
Denmark has a population of just over 5 million, but it still attracts many online gaming providers. That is because of the huge gambling appetite of its small population, which gambled €879.0m in 2019.
Sports betting accounted for 38.1% of that amount, of which 33.6% came from land-based casinos. The rest from the best EU online casinos offering sports betting. Moreover, real money online casinos were the only casinos that posted a growth in 2019.
Revenues from online casinos rose by 18.0% in Q2 of 2019, making EU online casinos the highest gainers in 2019. Slot games were among the games the Danish preferred the most when playing online.
On the other hand, land-based casinos continued to experience a general drop in revenue in 2019.
Real money slots accounted for 72.7% of the revenues generated from online casinos in 2019, while table games roulette at 10.4%, and blackjack at 8.3%, and came second and third respectively. Land-based casinos experienced an overall drop of 0.8%, due to a 10.8% fall in revenues in Q1 of 2019.
Apart from the growth of online gaming, more Danish players are also enrolling for help to deal with problematic gambling. Gamblers, who make up 56.8% of the calls for help, are the majority of those seeking help for problematic gambling.
Concerned relatives made about 38.8% of the calls, while remaining 4.4% was from health professionals.
The Danish gambling authority (Spillemyndigheden), also blocked access to 25 online gaming sites in 2019, as part of its efforts to deal with illegal gambling. However, the authority has not prosecuted any players for illegal gambling activities.
Overall, the Danish population has embraced gambling on European online casinos, as well as responsible gaming. Moreover, Casinos Austria, one of the largest gambling companies in the world, dominates The Austrian gambling scene.
Selected European online casinos for Denmark players:
Estonia Casino Sites
Estonia allows European casino sites to offer their services to Estonians as long they have a license. However, there was a temporary ban during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
Estonia later reversed the decision in 2011, and the Gambling Act and the Gambling Tax Act changed to lift that ban.
A study done in 2019 by the Gambling Addiction Counseling Center (Hasartmangusoltuvuse Noustamiskeskus), 80% of 2985 respondents (aged 15-74 years) had gambled at least once in their lifetime.
Furthermore, the same study found that 50% of the respondents had gambled at least once in the previous two years.
Moreover, just as most other countries where residents love gambling, offline gambling was higher than online gambling. Moreover, offline gambling was on a decline as more players continue to explore online gambling opportunities.
The research found that online gambling had doubled the previous two years, while the number of lottery players had dropped.
While the number of Estonians who play in the best EU online casinos (at 31%) is increasing, mostly young male Estonians aged between 30 to 39 years dominate them. On the other hand, Estonians from the rural areas dominate offline gambling.
Moreover, the rate of gambling among the 15 to 20 year olds is on average lower than the population average.
Nationally, the level of gambling has continued to rise in Estonians aged 60-74 year olds, and 40-49 year olds, since 2017. However, gambling addiction rates have stabilized, with 6% of the respondents admitting to having gambling problems.
Overall, while the 1.5 million Estonians offer a smaller market compared to the rest of Europe, their high gambling rates make Estonia among the best places to gamble.
Selected European casino sites for Estonians:
Finland Online Casinos
The Finns love to gamble so much that gambling they treat as a civic duty by many. Currently, about a third of all adults gamble at least once a week. Moreover, 83% of the population had gambled at least once since 2016.
The love for gambling in Finland goes back to the 1920’s, when the national lottery was introduced. The government introduced the lottery to discourage the Finns from gambling in Swedish lotteries, thereby sending money to their former rulers.
In 2017, Veikkaus, the state agency that has a monopoly on gambling collected over €1bn in revenues. That was a rise of over 30% since 2006. They then redistributed the funds to support sports, physical education, and other sectors such as health sciences.
Revenue from online casinos is also on the increase, with Veikkaus announcing sales of €805.6 million in 2018. However, Finnish players can play “legally” on the best European online casinos for real money.
However, that increase was accompanied by a gambling problem among the Finns. About 3.3% of the adult population is suspected to have a gambling problem, which is three times that of Norway.
Furthermore, half of the revenues that Veikkaus collects come from only 5% of the players. In that regard, there is a general agreement that the government needs to reform the gambling industry.
In future, the Finnish may only be able to access EU Casino Sites, using Veikkaus gaming accounts. Veikkaus also plans to partner with EU gaming software providers to increase its game collection.
Selected European casino sites for Finland:
View all Finnish Casino Sites
Germany Online Casinos
Germany is one of the EU member states where online gambling is not strictly regulated, and its gross online gaming revenue stood at €3bn in 2018. Overall, German players can choose from the best European online casinos, and depending on the casino’s game selection.
Although it is “illegal” for German online players to access online casinos, those who do so are not prosecuted. The exception is for players that have tried to access the online casino sites that are not licensed by an EU member state.
In that regard, German players can play on any EU online casino that accepts German players.
Generally, German players gamble in different ways when playing on online casinos. On average, they stake 38% of their funds on sports, 34% on online casino games, and 24% on poker.
When betting on sports, most players wager on soccer, horse racing, tennis, Ice Hockey, Handball, and basketball.
German players also have the lowest gambling addiction levels, according to the German Center for Addiction (DHS). For instance, in 2018, the number problem gamblers were about 325,000 or 0.56% of the German population.
Those that had a more serious problem with gambling were even fewer, at 0.31%. That shows that Germans do not only love online gambling, but they also do it much more responsibly.
It is also worth noting that traditional casino visits in Germany decreased from 6.3 million in 2010 to 5.7 million in 2017, thanks to an increasing preference for European casino sites.
Overall, Germany is one of the EU countries where players have easy access to European casinos.
We have a page fully dedicated to players from Germany. Here you can read all about the best online casino Germany along with all the gambling laws and restrictions for the German player.
Selected Euro Casinos for Germany:
View all Germany Casino Sites
Iceland Online Casinos
Iceland gambling scene is open to government and Euro online casinos, which gives Iceland’s population more options when gambling. Recent studies show that about 72% of Icelanders gamble online or offline.
Moreover, a majority of Icelanders, at 81% own a computer and smartphone.Those two factors have made the best EU online casinos easily accessible in Iceland.
Quite a number of Islanders struggle with gambling. About 6,000 Icelanders have reported struggling with their gambling habits, while 700 have compulsive gamblers.
However, the gambling authorities are very helpful when gamblers launch complaints against any licensed European casino sites.
A majority of men who are aged between 18 to 49 years support online and offline casinos. However, the rest of the population does not support the government’s attempt to legalize gambling.
Unfortunately, even with the absence of brick and mortar casinos, gamblers still have easy access to top Euro casino sites.
The result is the government does not get any revenue from those who gamble, which it can use to support social services.
However, Iceland’s tourism industry is growing fast, and since only bingo halls, a few slot machines, and lottery outlets are available, most tourists opt for EU online casinos.
Overall, with a population of about 350,000 people, Iceland may not be highly motivated to collect taxes from gambling activities.
Selected European casinos for Iceland players:
Ireland Casino Sites
Ireland is unique among EU countries when it comes to online gambling. Unlike most other EU countries where online casinos are illegal, in Ireland, the land-based casinos are illegal.
The Irish law allows local and EU online casinos to apply for an online casino license. You will therefore find top Euro casino sites from jurisdictions such as Malta, UK, and EU offering their services to Irish players.
That has made Euro online casinos very popular in Ireland. The good news is the prevalence of problem gambling is still low. As of 2018, it was at 0.8% of the general population.
However, the law allows private clubs to offer gambling services to their members, within their physical premises. Businesses have taken advantage of that loophole and created free-membership gambling clubs.
EU Online Casinos in Ireland are most popular with people aged between 25 years to 34 years. That age group also forms about 5.7% of the nation’s online gambling population. They are followed by 18-24 year olds, at 4.8%.
The young gamblers experience higher levels of problem gambling at 2.9% for males aged between 25-34 years, and 1.9% for males aged between 18-24 years. The rate is lower for females, at 1% for all age groups.
Among those aged between 18 years to 24 years, those that engage with top Euro casino sites, are about 12.7%. The number is higher for those who are aged 25-34 years, at 15.6%, possibly due to higher incomes.
Overall, Irish players can freely access the best EU online casinos in Ireland.
Selected European casino sites for the Irish:
View all Ireland Online Casinos
Lithuania Online Casinos
Lithuania has a population of over 2.9 million people, of which 72.1% have internet access. While there is no data on the number of players who participate in online and offline gambling, the government’s revenue collection from gambling has continued to increase.
Lithuania requires all casinos that request an online gaming license, to establish a land-based casino first. Moreover, casino operators within the European Economic Area (EEA) are guaranteed of a license, as long as they have at least 20 betting points.
That guarantees the government that the casinos will continue to remit a significant amount of taxes from its offline operations.
Alternatively, they need to have local totalisator parlors, or at least one casino offering ten slot machines, or a minimum of five horse race betting parlors.
Lithuania issued its first online betting license in 2016, and shortly afterwards started blacklisting sites that offer unlicensed online gambling services.
However, there are no cases of gamblers getting prosecuted for accessing unlicensed European online casinos from Lithuania.
The only measures the government has taken to make it hard to access such casinos include asking ISP, banks, and payment processors to block blacklisted sites.
According to the Lithuanian Gaming Control Authority, 0.02% of the population is addicted to gambling. That means 0.03% of those aged between 20 to 59 years are addicted to gambling.
As of 2017, Lithuania had collected over 31 million Euros in revenues from its gambling licenses and taxes from the licensed casinos. Overall, Lithuanians love gambling, and they generally have easy access to the best EU online casinos.
Selected European online casinos for Lithuanian players:
Malta Casino Sites
Malta has a population of over 350,000 people, of which at least 52.8% gamble an average of €11.30 per week. Furthermore, a survey conducted in 2015 by the Maltese gambling authority and released in 2017, revealed the Maltese population spent €128 million on various gaming activities.
That was an increase of €3 million from what they spent two years earlier. On average, 50% of those who were gambling, spent about 2.5% of their household income on gaming activities.
However, there is also an 8% of problematic gamblers who spend about 10% of their income on gambling activities.
Most of the players spent 73% of their gambling money on Malta’s National Lottery games.
Furthermore, up to 47.2% of the population plays games that are available without charge.
Interestingly, 3% of the Maltese population choose to gamble remotely on the best European online casinos.
This could indicate the free gambling atmosphere provided the Maltese Gambling Authority in gaming parlors. However, due to the licenses that Malta offers European casino sites, online gaming makes up 12% of the Maltese economy.
Online gaming generates about €700 million annually and employees over 6,400 people. It is also the largest employer of expatriates in Malta, and involves over 250 gaming companies. Malta has also issued over 513 remote gaming licenses to top Euro casino sites.
Overall, Malta is one of the best EU states where you can go and enjoy gambling on Euro online casinos, and offline. They are also home of course to the Malta Gaming Authority which licences most of the top Euro Casinos.
Selected Casino sites for Maltese players:
Netherlands Online Casinos
The Netherlands houses a large gambling population or around 5.6 million people of the 17 million population. The Dutch certainly like to play casino games as well. We have a dedicated page for players from the Netherlands.
Selected Euro Casinos for the Netherlands:
View all Netherlands Online Casinos
Norway Online Casinos
The country of Norway is not a member of the EU, but they are also home to plenty of gamblers within their population of 5.2 million. Of these, approximately 2.2 million like to have a gamble, especially on European online casinos. We also have a page focused solely on casinos for Norwegian players which you can view.
Selected Euro Casinos for Norway:
View all Norway Online Casinos
Poland Online Casinos
Poland has a population of over 38 million people, which have access to licensed Euro online casinos. Unlike in the past, once the Gambling Act of 2009 was passed, casino operators get blacklisted for operating without a license.
In that regard, while top Euro casino sites can now operate in Poland, they face higher taxes of 12% on their turnover. In exchange, they get a chance to share a piece of Poland’s €1billion gambling market. However, some of even the top Euro casino sites cannot offer card games such as poker in Poland.
nstead, they are limited to online betting, while casino-style online games are still a monopoly of the state-owned casino. The fines for violating the Gambling Act of 2009 can be as much as EUR 58,000, apart from getting blocked by Polish ISPs.
Despite these restrictions being in place, there is still a sizable number of EU online casinos that target Polis players. They do not restrict themselves to betting games. Instead, they offer the same games they offer other EU players.
A survey published recently found that 4% of Polish residents admitted to being online gamblers. Furthermore, 26.8% of those interviewed said they have had problems controlling their gambling choices.
Moreover, online gambling is more popular among the younger male population, who were also very active Internet users.
Overall, Polish players still enjoy playing on online casinos such as lotteries, e-sports, and sports gambling.
While the polish market is still restricted and highly regulated, it remains unclear if in the future the government will open the Polish gambling market fully, to EU online casinos.
Selected European casinos for the Polish:
Sweden Online Casinos
Sweden joined EU countries that license European casino sites, after it legalized online gambling on 1st January 2019. However, the Swedish Gambling Act prohibits any unlicensed gambling acts or promotion, directed at the Swedish population.
Among the EU countries, Sweden has one of the highest gambling populations. According to the Swedish Gambling Regulator (Spelinspektionen), 60% of the adults admitted to gambling at least once in 2018. Only 16% claimed they had never gambled before in their life.
However, there has been a decline from a high of 76% in 2013, when Sweden Gambling Authority did the previous study. Furthermore, about 45% of those interviewed said they had gambled at least once the previous month, and 31% the previous week.
62% of those interviewed said they gambled for entertainment, while 31% said the desire to win big was the force behind their gaming habits. Moreover, 30% of the interviewees also said the probability of winning encouraged them to gamble.
However, the high gambling rate in Sweden means there are also more problem gamblers. A 2014 report published by the Public Health Agency of Sweden (Folkhälsomyndigheten), found that about 18% of people aged 16 to 84 know of someone who is or was a problematic gambler.
Interestingly, those aged between 16-17 years tend to have lower gambling rates, compared to those aged over 18 years. Overall, the Swedish love playing online casinos, and they have easy access to the top European casino sites.
Selected casino sites for Swedish players:
View all Swedish Online Casinos
Conclusion – Best European Online Casinos
Overall, many European countries approve of online gaming. Their populations have taken advantage of it to explore the gambling landscape, and exercise their gambling freedom.
While a small section of the EU population struggles with gambling, a huge majority is able to gamble responsibly, and a number of EU countries have been able to generate revenues for their economies from these Euro online casinos.
It is also worth a mention that all these players from Europe are suitable to play at the casinos that offer the fastest payouts in the industry. This is of utmost importance to online casino players of course.
We hope you found this guide to be useful, and you will enjoy playing on European online casinos.
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