Internet Gambling Growing by 50 Percent Every Year, Report Says

The study, by London-based Global Betting and Gaming Consultants, said that for 2005, Internet gambling brought in $13 billion in revenues, $1 billion more than previously believed. Overall, global gaming revenues are $258.3 billion from resorts in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Macau and elsewhere around the globe.
 
"Online gambling is one of the fastest-growing segments of the gaming market at a compound annual growth rate of more than 50 percent since 1998," the report said.  
The market is projected to reach $25.2 billion in 2010, according to the report. 

Experts noted that the recent bill banning online gaming in the U.S. is not yet in force -- as the Secretary of Treasury and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System have said they will not issue regulations for at least 270 days, nearly a year from now.

Right now, the United States accounts for 47 percent of the global gross gaming yield in 2005. One site with operations there, PartyPoker, generates average daily revenue of $2.5 million, according to the report.

Poker, Sports Betting

Internet poker accounts for 20 percent of the annual online gaming revenue behind online sports betting at 36 percent and online casinos at 25 percent, the study said. 

Four the five major online poker sites, Poker Stars, Full Tilt, Ultimate Bet, Bodog, are still very, very active in the U.S. market, the study said. Only PartyPoker thus far has chosen to no longer accept U.S. players.

Meantime, other Web sites are seeing "record numbers" every weekend for their tournaments and regular play, the study said.

Many offshore casinos and sports book sites are simply not banning U.S. residents because, as they see it, U.S. law cannot regulate them, as they are located overseas, and savvy players have "several options" to deposit money into their casino and sports book accounts via Internet financial sites based outside the U.S., the report said. 

These include Western Union, money order services and e-checks, which come directly from one's checking account.

Neteller, thus far, is still the leading Internet financial services transactions Web site for U.S. players with more than $7 billion in annual transactions around the world.

But, new providers are expected to emerge in the coming months, experts said.

States Growing Too

On the state level in the U.S., gambling revenues are soaring too.  Louisiana's video poker revenues are up 26 percent at $167.9 million from $133.3 million in January through September 2005, and September revenues of $56.7 million were up 2.5 percent compared with $55.4 million in August. 

Truck stops are the state’s largest moneymaker, collecting $99.4 million through September, an increase of 21.5 percent from the $81.8 million reported last year, as there are 6,264 video gaming devices in truck stops, which make up 46.6 percent of the 13,429 video gaming devices in the state.  Off-track betting establishments had the biggest revenue increase year-to-date at 152.8 percent up to $9.1 million from the $3.6 million reported in January through September of this year, according to the State of Louisiana.

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