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Online Casino Companies Turn to New Markets |
| A well known business newspaper reacted on the recent crisis in a big online casino company, with the arrest of its CEO. In the wake of this incident, many online casino operators are looking to create their business elsewhere. Now the main targets of the online casino industry are Europe and Asia. Industry experts say this trend could indicate the start of a major wave of unification. The potential loss of U.S. online casino markets is significant for the online casino companies. Last year Americans gambled about $5.9 billion in online casinos - around half the world total. Pointing to US Department of Justice authorities attempts to stop online casino advertising, and moves by politicians to introduce legislation to ban online gambling, the newspaper article suggests that the online casino industry has been "spooked" by recent US events. Asia, on the other hand, looks like a very attractive alternative. Online casino gambling in the region is growing fast and "is still untapped," says Leighton Vaughan Williams, Director of the Betting Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University. The Asian online casino market, however, at $2.1 billion last year, is only about one-third the size of the market in the U.S. Even if it triples, as expected, between now and 2010 it will be only as big then as the U.S. market is today. On top of that, the use of credit cards is not as widely accepted in Asia as in the U.S. and Europe, though that's beginning to change quickly. |
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