Nielsen//NetRatings' latest research indicates that more than 14 million Europeans (14 percent of those online from home) visited a gambling and/or sweepstakes site in February 2005.
According to the Internet research company, the gambling and sweepstake sites were most popular with French and Swedish surfers, but have yet to make a mark in Southern Europe, with less than 10 percent of Spaniards and Italians logging on to gamble.
In all the countries under measurement across Europe, the majority of visitors to gambling and sweepstakes sites are using high-speed Internet connections. France, Switzerland and Spain lead the way with more than 80 percent of visitors to online gambling sites connecting via broadband.
Percentage of Internet Gamblers with High-Speed (>128k) Connections:
France: 85%
Switzerland: 83%
Spain: 81%
UK: 75%
Germany: 68%
Italy: 67%
Sweden: 56%
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings home only data, February 2005.
The National Lottery is the most popular gambling and sweepstake site in the United Kingdom, with over 1.3 million visitors from home in February 2005. This audience figure puts the site in the top 40 most visited sites in the United Kingdom. The gambling category in the United Kingdom has seen strong growth over the past 12 months, with audiences up by 45 percent when compared to the same time last year. This growth has been driven by a range of gambling, betting and online casino sites and not just by the National Lottery, which appeals to specific demographic groups and is a lottery-based site rather than a full online betting or gambling site.
Top 10 UK Gambling/ Sweepstake Sites
(The Sweepstakes sector reach is shown in parentheses.)
1.The National Lottery 1.3 million (35.0%)
2. William Hill 239,000 (6.3%)
3. Partypoker.com 233,000 (6.2%)
4. Ladbrokes 213,000 (5.6%)
5. Pacific Poker 151,000 (4.0%)
6. Cyberslotz 139,000 (3.7%)
7. The Gaming Club 131,000 (3.5%)
8. LoopyLotto 119,000 (3.2%)
9. Golden Palace Online Casino 117,000 (3.1%)
10. Vernons 102,000 (2.7%)
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings
"With nearly more than one in 10 online Europeans visiting a gambling site, this is clearly an important sector for the Internet industry," Gabrielle Prior, a European Internet analyst for Nielsen//NetRatings, said. "Online gambling and casino sites are also prolific online and offline advertisers.
"We expect to see this category continue to grow as advertising attracts consumers and the sites add more and more games and prizes. We know from earlier survey work that U.K. gamblers like the speed and convenience of betting online, and as the broadband boom continues we expect more people to try online gambling."
Normally one sees in the majority of categories that the high-speed users spend the greatest amount of time online. For gambling and sweepstake sites, however, this is not always the case. In France, Sweden and the United Kingdom, the time spent on gambling and sweepstakes sites is very similar, suggesting that slower connection speed is not off putting for the determined gamblers in these countries. By comparison, in Switzerland, Italy and Germany, high-speed Internet users are spending significantly more time than those connecting at a slower speed.
Average Time Spent per Person in the Gambling/Sweepstakes Category
(The first number is low speed, the second number is high speed.)
France: 00:55 / 01:05
Switzerland: 00:07 / 00:25
Spain: 00:13 / 00:16
UK: 00:29 / 00:20
Germany: 00:08 / 00:15
Italy: 00:08 / 00:23
Sweden: 00:49 / 00:46
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings home only data, February 2005.
More on Broadband
Broadband technology enables users to access the Internet at high speeds, mainly over their telephone lines (DSL) or cable, but also using wireless mobile technologies and even satellites. The widespread introduction of broadband at affordable prices is one of the chief objectives of the European Unions's e-Europe 2005 action plan. Broadband coverage in the E.U. 15 is already at 80 percent of population (450 million), but only 8 percent of Europeans are subscribers.
Author's Note
Nielsen//NetRatings is generally accepted as the global standard for Internet audience measurement and analysis, providing companies with valuable insight into their businesses. Therefore, it is a pity that in this research there is no differentiating between the "Gambling" and "Sweepstake" categories. The researchers are using only the "Gambling/Sweepstakes" category, which includes sites that offer gambling or betting, as well as sites offering free contests or competitions with giveaways.