PAF, the master licensee for interactive gaming in the Finnish territory of the Åland islands in the Baltic Sea, recently commissioned Germany-based consulting and research firm Goldmedia to compile a report titled " Online Betting & Gaming in Germany, Austria and Switzerland: Market Situation and Market Potential."
One tremendous conclusion that Goldmedia makes from its findings is that the Internet gambling market in German speaking regions will triple by 2010!
There are approximately 95.2 million inhabitants of the German speaking countries of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. 82 million live in Germany and 8.2 million live and Austria, while Switzerland holds 7.5 million Œobedients, of which 5 million are German speaking.
According to Goldmedia's report, Germany has around 2 million online gamblers (= 3%) in the game of chance market, which represents a market of about 28 billion euro (translating to 341 euro pro capita). In Austria there are 300,000 Internet gamblers (=4%), which represents a market of about 4.8 billion euro (translating to 585 euro pro capita), and in Switzerland there are 200,000 German speaking online gamblers (3%), representing a game of chance market 8.4 billion euro (translating to 1,135 euro per capita!).
The total GAS Game of chance market is over 40 billion euro, but the authors of the report neglected to calculate that parts of Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Italy also speak German.
There are 35.7 million Internet users in the GAS countries and broadband is used by 7 million families.
Other key findings of the report:
2004 new gambling media in Europe (US$4 billion):
- Internet: 64%;
- Mgambling: 32%;
- iTV: 4%.
(Source: European Lotteries)
Online Game of chance players (2004):
- USA: 41%;
- GAS countries: 9%;
- Japan: 14%
- UK: 7%;
- France: 4%;
- Italy: 4%;
- Canada: 4%;
- Others: 17%.
(Source: Leinert Consult)
World wide online gambling turnover per products in 2004:
- Casino & Poker: 57%;
- Sports betting: 35;
- Others (incl. Lotto): 8%
(Source: Leinert Consult)
Segments of the German-language online gambling sites in 2005:
- Casino¹s & Poker: 73%;
- Sportsbetting: 25%;
- Others (incl. lotteries): 2%.
According to Casinocity.com there are more than 2,500 online gambling sites, and 13% of those sites are in the German languages. Of those, 75 percent are primarily casino gaming.
And this is amazing, 42% of the sites in the German language were established in the Caribbean, and only 1% in Germany. In the EU the most German speaking sites may be found in the UK, Gibraltar, Malta and Austria.
2004 Online gambling market in Germany (2.7 billion euro):
- Casino: 56%;
- Betting (excl. horse betting): 29%;
- Lotteries: 13%;
- Horse betting: 2%.
(Sources: a.o. Goldmedia, DESIA and Leinerd Consult.)
According to the PAF report, the biggest online gambling turnover in the German market in 2004 was realized by BetandWin, which operates form Austria and Gibraltar.
The local markets of the three GAS countries, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, are also dealt with in the report.
One section of the report discusses new gambling developments in the TV industry, spotlighting major broadcasting players Premier, RTL, DSF and Raze. This section should be followed closely because these companies could be the real winners in the future.
Overall the PAF report on the German speaking market shows several insights matters:
- That the German speaking online gambling market should not be underestimated and that it has legal possibilities;
- That PAF is after a piece of the German speaking gambling cake and that they are willing to show it!
- That the composers of the Goldmedia report "Online Betting & Gaming in Germany, Austria and Switzerland: Market Situation and Market Potential" have the opinion that it is realistic to think that the Internet gambling market in the German speaking region will triple before 2010!