Growth Dynamics of the Fantasy Sports and iGaming Verticals: Blask’s Report

The research explores development trends from July 2025 to June 2026, encompassing data from 100 markets. For the US, the study offers a detailed overview of all 50 states.

Core Excerpts from the Report

The platform’s experts have analysed the growth dynamics of the fantasy sports and digital gambling verticals. The findings revealed that demand for virtual matches rose by 3% YoY, increasing the segment’s share of total online search requests to 6.4%. At the same time, the iGaming sector gained 60.8 million Blask Index points, a 0.7% upturn during the reported period.

The research demonstrates that the trend is almost ubiquitous:

1. In 49 of the 100 countries covered, the fantasy niche expanded in both volume and share.
2. Only 25 jurisdictions recorded declines in both metrics for the vertical.
3. In 22 destinations, demand increased, but the overall share dropped, while 4 markets experienced the opposite.

Blask’s analysts are confident that this tendency is structural, not merely a temporary boom.

Fantasy Sports: Strong Upward Trajectory

In comparison to seasonal averages, the segment sees lower demand during major football championships (like the World Cup or UEFA). During the 2026 FIFA tournament, search requests declined by 16.8%. This reduction occurs as audiences shift focus to highly promoted athletic competitions, leading to a pause in club leagues and less attention to fantasy sports.

Meanwhile, this temporary dip has little impact on the overall annual growth trend. Even with this decline, the vertical still outperformed iGaming by more than 4 times in YoY demand increase. This result indicates that virtual matches are more resilient to activity fluctuations.

As indicated in the research, medium-sized markets led in terms of growth pace:

• Lithuania — +100%.
• Romania — +94%.
• Hungary — +90%.

As for the volume, the UK and the US continue to dominate, together accounting for 40% of the total demand for fantasy sports.

Additionally, Blask’s specialists noted that growth rates and overall scale develop at different paces. Markets that rank highest on each of the 2 metrics’ lists do not overlap.