On-Chain Gambling Hit $14 Billion in Q1 2026, TRM Labs Reports

On-chain gambling volume reached $14 billion in the first quarter of 2026, according to a new report from blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs. The figure sits just below the record $15 billion tracked in Q4 2025, and compares with $2.6 billion in Q1 2021, meaning the sector has grown more than fivefold in five years. Full-year 2025 volume came in at $51 billion.

The quarter's resilience is notable given the broader crypto market correction over the same period. Gambling flows held near record levels while prices fell.

Stablecoins dominate the rails

The report puts stablecoins at roughly 70% of tracked gambling volume, $117 billion of a $169 billion total, with USDT accounting for $73 billion and USDC for $34 billion. On the TRON network, 94% of gambling volume is stablecoin-denominated.

The network mix has shifted sharply. TRON's share of volume rose from 17% in 2022 to 38%, while Bitcoin's share fell from 36% to just 2% over the same period. Polygon is approaching TRON's quarterly scale as of Q1 2026. For players, the data confirms what casino cashier pages already suggest: gambling with crypto increasingly means gambling with stablecoins on cheap, fast networks, not with BTC on its own chain.

A small group of whales drives the volume

TRM analyzed 2.02 million personal wallets and found extreme concentration: the 6% of wallets it classifies as "High Rollers", about 139,000 wallets, account for 91.8% of personal-wallet volume. The average high-roller bet is $13,558, with average lifetime volume of $378,000 per wallet.

The report also flags a structural shift: prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi processed $36.6 billion in Q1 2026, surpassing on-chain gambling volume for the first time.

The risk column

TRM's report includes the sector's failures alongside its growth, citing the ZKasino exit scam of April 2024, which took $33 million from users, and the Lazarus Group's $41 million theft from Stake.com. One caution on reading the headline number: these are TRM's on-chain volume figures, tracked by its own methodology, not gross gaming revenue, and not comparable to GGR estimates circulating elsewhere.