How much money do Americans lose with offshore online sportsbooks each year?
It’s an unknown figure because these operators don’t share data. However, the legal sports betting industry leverages a black market estimate to lobby for more state-sanctioned betting.
A new figure from an industry trade group shows disarray in the industry’s messaging.
Offshore Sports Betting Estimate
In August 2025, the American Gaming Association, which represents wide swaths of the U.S. gambling industry, announced that offshore sportsbooks and illegal bookies siphon $5 billion annually from Americans.
“Americans continue to wager heavily with illegal bookies and offshore sportsbooks,” the AGA said. Per the group, the amount illegally wagered through offshore gambling hubs is roughly $84 billion annually.
The $5 billion is the amount retained by illegal sportsbooks after paying out winning wagers. Still, it can prove impossible to withdraw your winnings from offshore gambling platforms.
“Since 2022, the share of sports bettors exclusively using illegal sources has fallen by one-third, and illegal sportsbooks’ market share has dropped from 36% to 24%,” the AGA said in a press release. “Still, one in 10 sports bettors wagers only through illegal channels.”
In 2024, state-sanctioned sports betting in the U.S. generated $13.7 billion in operator gross revenue off about $150 billion in handle. The two largest players are DraftKings and FanDuel.
The Innovation Group, which conducts research for the betting industry, surveyed 2,454 U.S. adults to help generate an estimate of the illegal sports betting market over the past year.
AGA Members with Different Estimates
In recent weeks, two of the AGA’s industry members have had their own, wildly divergent, estimates of the illegal sports gambling market.
At a licensing hearing in Missouri in August 2025, Circa Sportsbook Owner Derek Stevens said the illegal sports betting market share was a whopping 75% — compared to the AGA’s 24% estimate.
That would put the offshore market at roughly $450 billion in annual handle from just the U.S.
“Legal sportsbooks only accept 25% of all sports bets placed in the U.S., Stevens said during a Missouri licensing hearing today,” reported Ryan Butler of the affiliate website Covers.
Jonathan Cohen, an author and observer of the gambling industry, described Stevens’ estimate as “making up numbers out of thin air.”
The former CEO of FanDuel, Nigel Eccles, echoed the sentiment, saying that the U.S. sports betting industry is using “completely made up numbers.”
Stevens’ offshore gambling estimate was roughly the same as one from Churchill Downs, another AGA member.
At an industry conference in July 2025, Butler reported that Churchill Downs’ Director of Government Affairs, Shannon McCracken said that 74% of U.S. sports betting revenue in 2024 was with offshore sportsbooks.
It’s understandable if you feel confused by these figures.
Make it Make Sense
Two AGA members publicly provided radically different offshore sports gambling estimates than the AGA itself. So, it appears that there has been a messaging breakdown.
The U.S. legal sports betting industry lacks a coherent message when it comes to the size of the offshore sports betting market. Much of the black market operates from countries like Curaçao.
As of 2025, 30 states, plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, have legalized online sports betting. Texas, California and Georgia remain big prizes for the industry.
There is still much lobbying on the horizon to expand the reach of legal online sports betting. We can expect more confusion around the true size of the offshore sports betting market.
State policymakers should not be fooled into thinking that the offshore market is so large and threatening that legalization of online sports betting is needed.
The state sanctioning of online sports betting creates a dangerous advertising frenzy, leading to increased addiction and worsening financial health for residents.
Related: Offshore Gambling Sites In DOJ Crosshairs
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