Some fresh numbers on Asian iGaming markets

[Valge]

Hi all,

Asia is usually treated as a big “mystery blob” in iGaming discussions, so I thought I’d share some recent data I came across from Blask.

Indonesia – huge, banned, and slightly down​

• Estimated market volume (CEB): ~$3.84bn, 75 active brands
• APS (their “active players” proxy): ~3.4m
• Fully prohibited market – online casino & betting are illegal, and authorities have reportedly blocked millions of gambling domains. Operators adapt with mirror sites and new channels anyway.
• YoY change: about −1.7%

So you get a massive grey market with constant whack-a-mole blocking.

Thailand – still grey, legalisation stuck​

• CEB: ~$2.9bn, 116 brands
• APS: ~4.7m
• Online gambling is officially banned; there’s been talk for years about legalising land-based casinos as part of “entertainment complexes”, but as of late 2025 that still hasn’t passed.
• YoY: around −2.5%

Grey market is stable, but there’s no real regulated online option yet.

India – massive traffic, tightening rules​

• CEB: ~$2.54bn, almost 400 brands (highest brand density in Asia)
• APS: ~18m
• In August 2025, India adopted a federal-level Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, which effectively bans real-money gaming nationwide and adds another layer on top of state-level restrictions.
• YoY: still +4.5%

So the market keeps growing on paper, even as regulation officially turns hostile.

Philippines – the regulated bright spot​

• CEB: ~$2.28bn, ~190 brands, APS: ~11m
• YoY: +66.7% – biggest jump on the list
• After the clampdown on POGOs (offshore operators targeting foreign players), demand has shifted strongly towards local, PAGCOR-licensed operators – and PAGCOR’s own numbers show record revenues from e-games and e-bingo in 2025.

Basically, the only properly regulated, competitive online market in this group – and it’s exploding.

Bangladesh – banned, but growing​

• CEB: ~$2.19bn, 147 brands
• APS: ~26.7m (huge reach vs spend per user)
• Online gambling is illegal; in 2025, the government publicly doubled down with “zero tolerance” statements and stricter blocking of accounts and advertising.
• Despite that, Blask data shows around +24% YoY growth.

Classic example of “the stricter the law on paper, the more the activity goes offshore and under the radar”.

Singapore – tightly regulated, small offshore ring​

• CEB: ~$1.23bn, 69 brands, APS: ~1.6m
• The market is heavily controlled – ~90% of legal action runs through Singapore Pools, with a thin layer of offshore brands (GemBet, 1xBet, BK8, Stake, etc.) competing for the rest.
• YoY: about +3%

So this is more like a national monopoly with a small grey halo around it.

South Korea – lottery & one legal betting brand​

• CEB: ~$910m, 85 brands
• APS: ~770k
• Mixed model: Betman holds the only legal online betting licence; most other forms of online gambling are prohibited for locals, but offshore brands are still active in the background.
• YoY: +12.6%

Blask also notes that China is excluded from their index here (Great Firewall, limited search visibility), and Hong Kong / Macao are not yet included in this particular dataset.

Do you see any realistic path to properly regulated online markets in Asia outside the Philippines?​

 

[mulven]

Cataloguing some licence registers, I did see quite a lot of sites targeting Bangladesh so to hear it is growing makes a lot of sense! Even more sites for India.