Correlations Found Between Bankruptcy Filings, Gambling
A just-released study shows that, although addicted gamblers account for a small percentage of people that gamble, they're boosting the number of bankruptcies filed each year. Research from SMR Research Corporation indicates that 14.2 percent of bankruptcy filings each year are from problem gamblers. This mimics 1997 findings from National Opinion Research Center (NORC) showing that 19.2 percent of pathological gamblers filed for bankruptcy.
Russians Share Their Gambling Preferences
Russian news site RBCNews.com polled its readers about their favorite gambling activities. A total of 4208 responded, giving the following answers:
Question - "What gambling games do you play?"
Answers -
- none - 52 percent
- cards - 28 percent
- backgammon - 5 percent
- roulette - 2 percent
- "lokhotron" - 1 percent
(Defined by the sites as "a lottery for chumps where players end up making stakes against their own money")
- slot machines - 1 percent
- dominoes - 1 percent
- stakes - 1 percent
- other - 1 percent
- dice - less than 1 percent
- thimblerig - less than 1 percent
Wireless Offerings Attract More Players
Datamonitor's latest findings show that global wireless gaming is ready for huge growth, both in revenues and the number of players.
The market, currently valued at around $105 million, is likely to hit $4.2 billion by 2006 in Europe alone. At the same time, the U.S. wireless gaming market will grow from the current $20 million to $3 billion.
In terms of players, there are already 120 million around the world playing, and that number will probably triple. The Asian Pacific market alone is home to half of the wireless players, while another 41 million players live in Europe. The United States has 22 million players. By 2006, Europe will probably have 150 million wireless gamers, with the majority of those players coming from Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy.
The U.S. will see a surge in players too, with the number of players topping 124 million.
"Operators in Europe and the U.S. are finally taking wireless gaming seriously," noted Datamonitor Games Analyst Peter Tyson. "It has taken dot com correction and the threat of losing popular content to collapsing startups for them to open their wallets and their systems. But now that they have, the industry is starting to thrive."
Datamonitor's new wireless gaming report, "Global Wireless Gaming", is available for ordering online at www.datamonitor.com.
Higher Resolutions Preferred Online
Screen resolutions are going higher, with one third of all Web surfers around the world turning the knob up on their PCs.
"This has important implications for Web site designers who build sites for the lowest common denominator," said Geoff Johnston, vice president of product marketing for StatMarket, which published the information.
"In most cases," Johnston added, "they can design sites with additional content and graphics and be confident that a majority of Web users out there will be able to view it."
StatMarket provided a breakdown of the screen resolution preferred by Internet users worldwide:
- 1152 x 864 - 2.32 percent
- 1280 x 1024 - 2.88 percent
- 1024 x 768 - 32.72 percent
- 800 x 600 - 52.47 percent
In addition, Johnston related that screen resolution preference tends to vary from country to country. For example, nearly half of German Web users set their screens at 1024 x 768 resolution. In comparison, that setting is used by only 18 percent of Chinese Internet surfers.
Indian IT Companies Have Profitable Futures
Information technology companies in India are well set to take advantage of an expected boom in services, earning as much as $9 billion by 2005, according to a just-released report from NASCOM-BCG. The report's authors add that the Indian e-solutions industry will probably grow from $65 million in 2000 to $500 million in 2005.
"In order to capture the e-solution services opportunity, Indian IT firms will need to build domain expertise in select industry verticals or product applications," cautioned Phiroz Vandrevala, chairman of the apex software body.