Plinko, lottery, online casino: how Europe searches for iGaming

In this article, iGaming market intelligence platform Blask shares European patterns for general iGaming demand.

According to Blask data, unbranded iGaming demand in Europe is relatively low compared with brand interest. One category drives most of it. Some countries show unusual patterns, both at the category and subcategory levels.

Maturity Index is one of the latest Blask features. The metric is the ratio between two demand layers Blask tracks: brand-level search demand, measured by the Blask Index, and generic category-level demand, measured by the Categories Blask Index. 

Maturity Index compares total category-level demand against total brand-level demand within a GEO and maps the result to a scale of 0 to 100 — 0 means all brand search, 100 means all category search, and 50 is an equal split. As of May 2026, the feature is available for 85 major markets, including 28 European countries.

Europe's most common leading category

Europe accounts for half of the global top 20 by Maturity Index in April 2026, but the numbers are small. The highest-ranked European country sits at less than half the United States score, and no European market crosses 50 — the level at which unbranded demand would equal brand demand.

Across all 28 tracked European markets, Online Casino is the leading category in 18. In 12 of those, it takes more than half of all unbranded iGaming demand, reaching 91.3% in Belgium. In the other six — the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal — it leads without a majority. The Czech Republic is the extreme case: Online Casino and Lottery categories are almost tied there at 47.6%.

Where Online Casino does not lead

In the 10 markets where Online Casino does not lead, Lottery comes first in four: France (70.2%), Lithuania (70.1%), the UK (52.9%), and Finland (43.4%). Fantasy leads unbranded demand in Ireland, Serbia, and Spain; Online Betting — in Italy, Slovenia, and Montenegro.

In France, online casinos are prohibited. The lack of licensed brands would normally push category-level demand higher. But the leading category there is Lottery, at 70.3% — far ahead of Online Casino.

What users actually search for inside the Online Casino category

In 15 of the 18 Online Casino-led markets, the general interest subcategory accounts for more than half of all Online Casino category demand. Belgium and Hungary are at 99.4% and 98.0%. Romania, at 66.5%, is the lowest in the group. Users in these markets search for a casino, not for a specific game inside one.

Norway and Ukraine are where that pattern changes. In Ukraine, 75.2% of Online Casino demand goes to Slots, with General Interest at 22.9%. Norwegian demand is more evenly split: Slots at 52.5%, General Interest at 46.8%. These are the only two Online Casino-led markets where Slots demand outweighs generic casino queries.

In Moldova, the Online Casino category accounts for 60.6% of unbranded demand, but inside that share, neither generic queries nor Slots dominate. And it is the only European country where Plinko — a crash-style casino game — reaches a meaningful share.

Bottom line

Online Casino is the leading category of unbranded iGaming demand in two-thirds of European markets tracked by Blask. In most of those markets, users search for the category itself, not for any specific product inside it. Slots search beats generic only in Norway and Ukraine, and Moldova is the only place where Plinko reaches a meaningful share.