World Data Lab x EBANX - Summit 2026
Gaming's next growth phase is bigger, but harder to monetize
Online gaming spending nearly quadruples by 2036, the fastest of nine digital verticals. The joint World Data Lab and EBANX deck maps where that money appears, who is paying for it, and which rails their checkout still needs.
Online gaming spend in 2036, up from $209B in 2026
Compound annual growth, the fastest of the nine verticals
Emerging markets' share of world gaming spend in 2036
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Inside the deck
Four questions, answered with numbers
Gaming is the fastest-growing vertical of the digital economy and the one where the payer is least like the payer a card-first checkout was designed for. The deck follows the money from market size to the moment of payment.
Gaming outgrows the digital economy around it
Online gaming compounds at 14.0% a year to 2036, against 8.4% for all online spend and 4.9% for total consumer spending. By 2036 it is roughly the size of the world's hotel bill today.
Where the growth actually lands
China and the USA account for more than half of all gaming spend, and 57% of everything added by 2036. The remaining $244B is spread across dozens of markets that each need their own rails. Latin America grows fourfold; Brazil sixfold.
The payer in an emerging market is not the payer in the US
58.3% of India's gaming spend and 51.8% of Nigeria's comes from below the middle class, against 2.7% in the United States, where 73.6% comes from the richest tier alone. Gaming also stays young where the payer is hardest to reach.
Payments at play: how local rails unlock gamers
EBANX on the mobile-first, largely unbanked base, high-velocity microtransactions and the shift to D2C webstores, with the payment bundles that win each one, plus Pix and installments results from Brazil.
Key findings
Three charts from the deck
Source: World Data Lab x EBANX. Nominal USD, all ages.
Gaming outgrows everything around it
Spending CAGR 2026-2036, nominal USD. Gaming is the fastest of the nine online verticals.
In 2036, gaming is the size of today's hotel bill
World consumer spending by category in 2026, versus online gaming in 2026 and 2036.
The payer in an emerging market is not the payer in the United States
Share of national gaming spend coming from the lower middle class, vulnerable and poor, 2026. In the United States 73.6% of gaming spend comes from the richest tier alone.
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A $776B market, and the checkout it still needs
Market size, growth by country, who pays and how they pay, through 2036. Fill in the form and the deck arrives in your inbox.
- Gaming spend by market to 2036
- Who pays: class and age splits by country
- The payment bundles that win each segment
- Pix and installments results from Brazil