iGaming Journalist & Crypto Casino Analyst
Live dealer casino is the one corner of online gambling where a real person, a real table and a real camera sit between the player and the result. It is also one of the most concentrated segments in iGaming: a single supplier, Evolution, reports roughly 2,000 live tables and publishes audited quarterly numbers that effectively act as the industry's public scoreboard. This reference guide collects the most useful live dealer casino industry data available as of October 2026 in one place: Evolution's 2025 full-year results, its Q2 2026 regional split, third-party market-size estimates, and a plain-English explanation of how a live studio turns a spinning wheel into a data stream.
Everything below is sourced to company filings, trade press or clearly labelled third-party estimates. Where we calculate a figure ourselves (a percentage share or a growth rate derived from two published numbers), we say so. If you are researching the economics of live casino, or simply want to understand why some operators fund a studio while others license content, this page is designed to be cited.
Key Findings: Live Dealer Casino Data at a Glance
Evolution reported FY2025 net revenues of €2,066.5 million and a 66.1% adjusted EBITDA margin, with live casino making up about 84.5% of Q2 2026 net revenue (€437.3m of €517.8m). Asia was the largest region in Q2 2026 at €190.5m but fell 8.9% year on year, while Latin America grew 26.3% and North America 9.5%. Evolution operates about 2,000 live tables and employs about 22,500 people.
Evolution's Financial Results: Full-Year 2025
Evolution's year-end report for January to December 2025 is the best single audited data point on the size of the live casino supply chain. Net revenues were flat, but the margin and profit lines moved lower as costs rose and regulatory pressure in Europe weighed on results.
| Metric | FY2025 | FY2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net revenues | €2,066.5m | €2,063.1m | +0.2% |
| Total operating revenues | €2,118.2m | €2,214.1m | -4.3% |
| Adjusted EBITDA | €1,365.7m | €1,410.7m | -3.2% |
| Adjusted EBITDA margin | 66.1% | 68.4% | -2.3 percentage points (our calculation) |
| Profit for the period | €1,062.1m | €1,244.0m | -14.6% (our calculation) |
| Earnings per share | €5.24 | €5.94 | -11.8% (our calculation) |
Two things stand out. First, even after the dip, a 66.1% adjusted EBITDA margin is extraordinarily high for a business that employs thousands of dealers and runs dozens of studios; it reflects the economics of a B2B supplier that is paid a share of the gross gaming revenue its tables generate, with little customer-acquisition cost of its own. Second, the cost base grew while revenue did not: operating expenses were €860.9 million in 2025 against €794.6 million in 2024, an increase of about 8.3% (our calculation from figures reported by Sigma).
Headcount and revenue per employee
Evolution reported about 22,500 employees at the end of 2025 (22,475 in the more precise figure cited by trade press), spread across studios in Europe, North America and South America. Dividing FY2025 net revenues of €2,066.5 million by 22,475 gives roughly €92,000 of net revenue per employee. That is a blunt measure, because the headcount includes dealers, floor managers, studio engineers and developers alike, but it is a useful benchmark for anyone modelling the labour intensity of live casino against pure RNG games.
Live Casino vs RNG: How the Revenue Splits
Evolution reports two product families: live casino (tables with human dealers or physical wheels) and RNG games (software slots and table games). Live is the overwhelming majority of the business.
| Period | Live casino | RNG | Total net revenue | Live share (our calculation) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4 2025 | €438.6m | €75.7m | €514.2m | 85.3% |
| Q2 2026 | €437.3m | €80.5m | €517.8m | 84.5% |
In Q4 2025 live revenue was €438.6 million against €75.7 million for RNG; in Q2 2026 the figures were €437.3 million and €80.5 million. The live share therefore sat in a narrow band of roughly 84% to 85% across the two quarters. RNG is growing slightly faster in euro terms (€75.7m to €80.5m, up about 6.3%) while live was essentially flat, which is consistent with management's stated 2026 emphasis on new game launches in the United States and Latin America rather than aggressive European spending.
Regional Breakdown: Where Live Dealer Revenue Comes From
The most valuable table in the Evolution disclosure is the regional split, because it shows which regulatory regimes are growing and which are shrinking. Q2 2026 net revenue was €517.8 million, down 1.2% year on year but up 2.4% at constant currency, according to SBC News.
| Region | Q2 2026 revenue | Share of total (our calculation) | Year-on-year change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asia | €190.5m | 36.8% | -8.9% |
| Europe | €173.0m | 33.4% | -4.0% |
| North America | €81.0m | 15.6% | +9.5% |
| Latin America | €47.5m | 9.2% | +26.3% |
| Other (mainly Africa) | €25.8m | 5.0% | +10.3% |
| Total net revenue | €517.8m | 100.0% | -1.2% (+2.4% constant currency) |
Asia: still the largest, now the weakest
Asia contributed €190.5 million, about 36.8% of the quarter, but declined 8.9% year on year and 3.7% quarter on quarter, making it the weakest region. In its year-end report Evolution noted that Asia "has turned back to growth compared to the third quarter" of 2025, so the Q2 2026 decline shows that the recovery has been uneven.
Europe: regulation as a headwind
Europe produced €173.0 million, up 3.5% on the previous quarter but 4% lower than a year earlier. Evolution's year-end report described European development as "not good, burdened by unfavorable regulatory movements," and management said it would invest somewhat less aggressively in the region in 2026.
North America and Latin America: the growth engines
North America generated €81.0 million, up 9.5% year on year, and Latin America €47.5 million, up 26.3%, the fastest growth of any region. Regulation is the driver in both: new US state markets and Brazil's regulatory update for Latin America. The remaining region, which Evolution describes as mainly Africa, produced €25.8 million, up 10.3% year on year and 14.2% on the quarter.
Third-Party Market Size Estimates
Beyond Evolution's own numbers, analyst firms publish market-size estimates for live dealer casino as a whole. These are modelled figures, not audited ones, and different firms use different definitions, so treat them as directional. A report from Growth Market Reports estimates the 2025 global live dealer casino market at USD 3.23 billion, rising to USD 6.45 billion by 2034 at an 8.0% compound annual growth rate for 2026 to 2034. The same report gives the following regional shares for 2025:
| Region | Share of 2025 revenue (estimate) | Forecast CAGR 2026-2034 |
|---|---|---|
| Europe | 36.0% | 5.6% |
| Asia Pacific | 35.0% | not stated |
| North America | 14.5% | 12.5% |
| Latin America | 9.5% | 11.3% |
| Middle East & Africa | 5.0% | 10.2% |
By game type, the report estimates baccarat as the largest category at 30% of 2025 revenue, with game shows the fastest-growing at an 11.3% CAGR, and projects mobile at 82% of revenue by 2034. It also puts Evolution at about 62% market share and the top five suppliers at about 84% combined. We cannot independently verify these shares, and the report's regional percentages differ from Evolution's own revenue mix in the table above (for example, Asia is larger than Europe in Evolution's Q2 2026 data but slightly smaller in the third-party estimate), which illustrates why company filings should be preferred where they exist.
Reading the estimates critically
Market-size reports often blend supplier revenue (what studios earn) with operator gross gaming revenue (what casinos earn). The two differ by the supplier commission. The same report estimates a blended supplier commission of about 9%, which, if accurate, would mean operator-level revenue from live games is many multiples of supplier revenue. Always check which basis a statistic uses before citing it.
How a Live Dealer Studio Works
A live dealer game looks simple on screen but is a tightly engineered broadcast system. According to a technical walkthrough published by TheSpread, the pipeline has five stages.
- Multi-camera capture. Several HD cameras cover wide shots, close-ups of the wheel or cards, and the dealer. All feeds go into a real-time encoding system.
- Optical character recognition (OCR). Software reads the winning roulette number or dealt cards from the video and converts it into data, which updates the on-screen overlay as soon as a round ends.
- Game control unit. This device encodes the feed and prepares it for players, tying the physical outcome to the digital game state.
- Betting window. The server locks wagers when the dealer calls "No More Bets." The window typically lasts 15 to 30 seconds.
- Low-latency delivery. Studios use WebRTC, supported by nearly all modern browsers, to keep delay low, because even a half-second lag can put the stream out of step with the betting window.
Studio environment and staffing
Studios use directional microphones, acoustic soundproofing and isolated booths to prevent echo, and low-glare LED lighting so reflections do not interfere with cameras and optical scanning. Wheels are regularly checked for balance and random outcomes. Beyond dealers, a studio employs floor managers, technical directors, producers, engineers, data officers and compliance staff, and a control room monitors data for anomalies. This is why live casino is labour-intensive compared with RNG: each table needs a person, a camera rig and a supervisor structure for every hour it is open.
Cost of building a table
The Growth Market Reports estimate puts studio build cost at about USD 150,000 per table, which is an estimate rather than a disclosed figure. Combined with Evolution's reported scale of about 2,000 tables (up from about 1,700 a year earlier, per Sigma), it gives a sense of the capital that independent suppliers must commit to compete.
Table Counts, Competitors and Concentration
Evolution reports about 2,000 live tables, up from about 1,700 a year earlier. The third-party report credits Playtech with roughly 500 tables and Imagine Live with more than 200, with Pragmatic Play operating more than 100 tables in Bogotá. The same source states that Evolution generated about €0.89 million of revenue per table in 2025 against about €0.34 million for Playtech; we treat those as estimates, but a simple check supports the order of magnitude: Evolution's Q4 2025 live revenue of €438.6 million annualised (×4) is about €1,754 million, which over about 2,000 tables is roughly €0.88 million per table per year.
The concentration matters for anyone choosing where to play. Most major licensed operators draw their roulette, blackjack and baccarat tables from a handful of suppliers, so the same table and the same dealer can appear at several casinos under different skins. If you are comparing sites, see our guide to the best online casinos, and for non-traditional options read about crypto casinos.
US Expansion and Regulation
The US is where live casino growth is now being regulated into existence. In Q2 2026 Evolution rolled out Monopoly Live across four US states, opened a second Michigan studio, and expanded into Alberta, Canada. In Q4 2025 it re-launched its second brand Ezugi in New Jersey with a stated goal of becoming the number two live casino provider in the United States, and it has planned a studio in Grand Rapids, Michigan to support Ezugi's expansion into that state. Because each US state licenses its own market, expansion happens state by state, which is why Evolution's US announcements are tied to individual launches and studios.
In Latin America, Evolution agreed a €6 million acquisition that created a second studio in Argentina after a competitor withdrew from the country. For a broader look at how different jurisdictions treat the industry, browse our casino hub and the wider guides section.
Why Live Dealer Revenue Is So Sensitive to Regulation
The regional table makes a pattern clear: the regions with the sharpest regulatory change show the sharpest revenue change. Europe's tightening has coincided with a year-on-year decline, while new state markets in North America and Brazil's regulatory framework in Latin America coincide with double-digit growth. The third-party report cites locally regulated markets as an increasing proportion of Evolution's business: 46% of Evolution's 2025 revenue from locally regulated markets, up from 40% in 2024, and 49% in Q2 2026. Whether those precise percentages hold up, the direction is consistent with the company's published commentary.
Methodology
This article compiles figures from Evolution's published year-end report for January to December 2025, trade-press coverage of its Q4 2025 and Q2 2026 reports, a published technical description of live studio operations, and a third-party market research summary. Company figures are in euros as reported. Where a percentage or growth rate is described as "our calculation," we derived it from two published numbers using simple arithmetic, and we cross-checked that segment and regional totals sum to reported net revenue (live plus RNG, and the five regions, each reconcile to €517.8 million for Q2 2026 within rounding). Third-party market sizes are labelled as estimates. We did not use any non-public data. Figures were gathered on 22 October 2026 and may be revised by later filings.
Frequently Asked Questions
How big is the live dealer casino market?
One third-party estimate puts the 2025 global market at USD 3.23 billion, growing to USD 6.45 billion by 2034. Evolution alone reported FY2025 net revenues of €2,066.5 million, of which live casino was the large majority.
How many live tables does Evolution run?
About 2,000 live tables, up from about 1,700 a year earlier, according to coverage of its Q4 2025 results.
Which region generates the most live casino revenue for Evolution?
Asia, with €190.5 million in Q2 2026 (about 36.8% of net revenue), followed by Europe at €173.0 million. Asia fell 8.9% year on year, while Latin America grew 26.3%.
How do live dealer games prove the result is real?
Cameras capture the physical outcome, OCR software reads it into data, and the game control unit ties it to the digital betting round. Wheels and equipment are regularly checked, and studios operate under licensing and compliance oversight.
What is the typical betting window in live roulette?
Typically 15 to 30 seconds, after which the dealer calls "No More Bets" and the server locks wagers.
Sources
- Evolution AB, Year-end report January-December 2025
- Sigma, Evolution 2025 results and 2026 outlook
- SBC News, Evolution Q2 2026 results
- Growth Market Reports, Live Dealer Casino Market (third-party estimates)
- TheSpread, What Happens Behind the Scenes of a Live Roulette Stream
Cite This Article
If you use data from this article, please link back to https://www.deucescracked.com/blog/live-dealer-casino-industry-data-evolution-2026. For more reference data, see our research archive.
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