the Group as a whole. We are unable to quantify the level of duplication that arises as a result of these circumstances, but do not believe it to be material and note that players must demonstrate residency within the geography covered by a division to sign up for an account, and accordingly such duplication could only arise in the circumstance of an individual player having multiple residences across different divisions. For a further description of the duplication that can arise in the way we count AMPs, see Part II, “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in the 2023 Annual Report. We do not believe that the existence of player duplication undercuts the meaningfulness of the AMPs data that we present for assessing underlying trends in our business, and our management uses this AMPs data for this purpose.
Stakes represent the total amount our players wagered in sportsbook and is a key volume indicator for our sportsbook products. The variability of sporting outcomes can result in an impact to sportsbook revenue that may obscure underlying trends in the sportsbook business relating to growth in amounts wagered and, accordingly, staking data can provide additional useful information. We do not utilize staking information to track performance of our iGaming products. Because our iGaming business is not subject to the same variability in outcomes, management is able to assess trends in our iGaming business by analyzing AMPs and revenue changes, without the need to collect or analyze stakes and believes that collecting and analyzing stakes data in our iGaming business would not provide meaningful incremental information regarding trends in such business that is not already provided by collecting and analyzing our iGaming AMPs and revenue data.
Sportsbook net revenue margin is defined as sportsbook revenue as a percentage of the amount staked. This is a key indicator for measuring the combined impact of our overall margin on sportsbook products and levels of bonusing.
Acquisitions
In January 2024, we acquired an initial 51% controlling stake in MaxBet, a leading omni-channel sports betting and gaming operator in Serbia. The purchase comprised of a cash consideration of $144 million (€132 million). The share purchase agreement also includes call and put options to acquire the remaining 49% stake in 2029.
We intend to continue to make similar investments in the future in attractive, fast-growing markets where growing our business organically is typically slower or more difficult to achieve. Acquisitions can involve significant investments to integrate the business of the acquired company with our business, and such costs may vary significantly from period to period. Accordingly, the impact of significant acquisitions may result in our financial information for such periods being less comparable to prior financial periods, or not being comparable at all, to prior financial periods.
Business Environment
The global online betting and gaming market is currently expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (“CAGR”) of 10.9% between 2024 and 2028, primarily driven by further migration to online channels and the increase in the number of regulated markets across the world. The expected regulation in the next two years of markets such as Canada, as well as additional states in the United States, have the potential to increase the international addressable market. The performance of our four reportable segments can be materially affected by these industrial trends and regulatory changes in the global online sports betting and iGaming market.
U.S.
Our US segment is considered to be the largest growth opportunity for the Group. Since 2018 when the key gambling legislation was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, a number of states have moved to legalize and regulate gambling at the state level. As of March 31, 2024, FanDuel is active in 22 states that have legalized and regulated for a competitive online sports betting market and 5 states that have legalized and regulated iGaming.
UKI
While more mature and developed than many other European markets, the United Kingdom and Ireland online gaming and betting market has continued to exhibit good levels of growth despite the introduction of safer gambling initiatives by operators in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
In recent years, regulatory changes and the introduction of safer gambling initiatives by operators in the United Kingdom have led to slightly slower market growth. On February 23, 2024, the UK government announced plans to introduce a statutory maximum stake limit for online slot games of £5 per spin for adults aged 25 and over (with effect from September 2024) and £2 per spin for young adults aged 18 to 24 (with effect from six weeks after the £5 per spin limit is implemented). On May 1, 2024, the Gambling Commission of Great Britain published the outcome of a number of consultations arising from the UK Government’s white paper reviewing gambling legislation from April 2023, including in respect of financial vulnerability checks, financial risk assessments, and direct marketing to consumers. On April 27, 2023, the Group announced it estimated that the incremental revenue impact from the proposed measures announced in the white paper could be between £50 million and £100 million from our UKI business per annum.
International
Our international division operates in over 100 different countries in both regulated and unregulated markets with select markets discussed below.
Italy is the largest regulated gambling market in the European Union, with its online penetration expected to stand at 22% based on GGR in 2024, which represents an opportunity for Italian online betting and gaming to further grow given the under-penetration in this market.
In recent years, the regulatory framework in Italy has tightened with an online advertising ban issued in 2019 as well as an increase in tax on gross win for sports betting and gaming. In January 2024, the Italian government approved the terms of the Reorganization Decree which will undertake the first regulatory evaluation of the Italian gambling market with the primary objectives to enhance player protection, combat illegal gambling and increase tax revenue through a new licensing framework. The Group does not expect material impact from these regulatory changes due to less reliance on online advertising, the advantage of scale, as well as its retail presence in Italy.
Among international markets in which we operate, Turkey, India, Georgia, and Spain are our four largest markets after Italy. For the period between 2016 and 2023, the market grew at a CAGR of 27.2%, 22.9% and 21.5% in Turkey, India, and Georgia, respectively, driven by the fast-growing online channel. While the market grew at a CAGR of 2.5% in Spain for the same period, the online segment grew at a CAGR of 10.9%.
Australia
The Australian betting and gaming market is regulated with online betting and gaming accounting for 26% of the market in 2023. In recent years, the Australian market has benefitted from customer migration to online channels, accelerated by COVID-19 related restrictions in 2020 and 2021. However, the market has experienced a softer racing market due to the softened consumer demand post COVID-19, which is expected to continue in the near term, while the sports segment of the market has shown continued growth.
The regulatory environment in Australia has also evolved significantly in recent years, especially after the introduction of point of consumption tax in 2019. Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory have since increased point of consumption tax, and finally, Victoria announced an increase in the point of consumption tax rate from 10% to 15%, effective from July 1, 2024. The higher tax environment underlines the importance of scale in the Australian market and favours large operators, as increasing regulatory and tax hurdles can drive out smaller operators and support market share expansion for scale operators.
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