Top European Betting Sites

Online Sports Betting in Europe

Betting in Europe is a very interesting topic and 10 pages would suffice to make a detailed and in-depth analysis on online betting sites. Europe is the biggest market for the collection of bets, each year generating profits in excess of 500 billion dollars, a figure so high that it is easy to understand why this market is constantly evolving and attracting investors from around the world. It is impossible to speak of a single European market since, over the years, the states have introduced national laws to protect local operators and earn profits from their taxation. Some countries use censorship of the website that do not possess a national license.

It should be known that there are two types of bookmakers in Europe:
 
local ones, authorised by the government, and the so-called international .COM ones, licensed in foreign countries. The good news that it is perfectly legal to bet on either, with there being no penalties or fines for bettors.

Largest Markets in Europe and local laws
The largest markets are the UK, Italy and Germany. The governments of these countries are facing the situation in different ways. Recently, the British government has been protecting the market, forcing many operators that are based in the United Kingdom to create a special website with a "co.uk" extension. The market is dominated by Bet365, William Hill and Betfair which, over time, have expanded around the world, whilst others such as Coral and Betfred have continued to work exclusively in the UK, demonstrating that owning a small slice of the market in this nation generates substantial profits.

The situation is different in Italy, given that the Italian Government adopts censorship methods for all bookmakers that do not have a local license (AAMS). After years of battling, many historical operators (such as Bet365, Betfair and William Hill) have adapted to the Italian law and transformed their site into .IT!

This contrasts with the strategy of bookmakers licensed in Curacao that, despite their sites suffering censorship every three months, are still able to operate because they provide alternative links, as is the case with 1XBET and Betrally. In Italy, the true leader in bet collecting is PlanetWin365, being in possession of several betting shops around the country and having a website visited by over 1 million Italians each day!

France and Spain resolves without censoring
The Italian situation is an anomaly among large governments. Where Italy censors foreign websites, whilst France resolved its issues at the outset. The French have signed an agreement with the licensors that compel bookmakers to eliminate France from their options at the time of registration. It 's very rare to find a .COM bookmaker that accepts French punters. All the others have transformed their site into .FR Among the leading bookmakers in France are Unibet and Bwin, which are licensed to operate online.

Spain has a similar situation, where the usual big British operators have the market in hand. We're talking about Bet365, Betfair and William Hill, flanked by 888sport and Planetwin365.  

The betting situation in Europe

The important markets without serious restrictions are Germany, Poland and Sweden. Bet365 has been a leader in these nations for years, but had to yield parts of the market to the emerging 1XBET and Planetwin365. The situation is different in Turkey, a great country of gamblers and a rich market. Here, the government censors bookmaker sites, just as occurs in Italy. The Netherlands, rather, is a country presenting huge potential in this sector. Few bookmakers offer their website in Dutch, with the limited number who have decided to support this language - being Unibet and 1XBET - enjoying raking in much satisfaction.

Near the Netherlands there is Belgium, where the government has established international agreements that limit the ability of opening accounts for those who gamble online. As such, the local bookmaker Betfirst, grew to be market leader in this country in no time at all. Important markets that have suffered from the restrictions are Portugal, Greece and Romania. In these countries, the very same Bet365 has been the leader for years, however specific bookmakers have recently been establishing themselves in this marketing. This is the case for Betrally in Portugal, Sportingbet in Greece and Unibet in Romania.

The Balkan market is undergoing a phase of strong growth, seeing the number of bettors using the internet to play online doubling yearly. Among the leading bookmakers there are PlanetWin365 and Favbet, being very popular in Croatia!