How Would Legalized E-Gambling Affect Las Vegas?
Recently 5,609 readers answered a poll in the Las Vegas Sun that asked, "If online gambling were legalized in the U.S., how would it affect Las Vegas?" The response showed:
- Fewer people would visit - 28.5 percent
- More people would visit - 8.7 percent
- No effect - 62.7 percent
Internet Fraud Concerns Increase
Online fraud continues to increase reports the "CyberSource Fraud 2000 Survey." Well over half of all survey respondents (61 percent) said they are taking more precautions against online fraud during this year's holiday shopping season. In addition, online businesses are increasingly aware of who bears the financial burden when online fraud occurs, the survey found. "Even though Internet fraud can significantly impact online revenues for a business selling online, it was interesting to learn that the respondents'
greatest concern about implementing a fraud screen solution was jeopardizing customer goodwill," a CyberSource spokesperson said. The survey results are available online at www.cybersource.com.
Slow, Steady Growth for Entertainment PCs Expected
Even though next generation game consoles continue to gain popularity, the annual worldwide shipment of entertainment PCs (those with advanced features for gaming and entertainment) will grow from 2 million units this year to 3.4 million units by 2006, according to a study by Jon Peddie Associates (JPA). The study, "Entertainment Personal Computer," includes estimates that the installed base of these PCs will grow by 2.2 million (from 4 million to 6.2 million) during that period because of rapid retirement and replacement of older units. "As we conducted the research for this report we discovered that there exists in the high end of the PC market a core group of fiercely loyal PC fans that will always provide a market for next-generation PC technology," explained a JPA spokesperson. "These PC elite will never trade in their machines for game consoles or any device they perceive as less-capable, such as Internet appliances." The
"Entertainment Personal Computer" report can be ordered on the company's website at www.jpa.com.
Women Overtake Online Gaming
While men still make up 55 percent of overall gamers, for the first time ever women make up a majority of online gamers, according to PC Data's new study "Spotlight on Games: Categories and Hardware." The report found that women comprise 50.4 percent of online gamers and that they typically prefer online gambling, card games, and online quiz and trivia games.
Other key findings from the report, which surveyed 3,507 home Internet users, both gamers and non-gamers, show:
- Online and offline preferences differ among the two sexes. Men prefer war and sports themes for their games, and were three times as likely as women gamers to participate in first person shooter games,
real-time/turn-based strategy games and sports games. Meanwhile, female gamers displayed a marked preference for board/card games, gambling themes and quiz/puzzle/trivia contests.
- The most frequently played games turned out to be Solitaire, Free Cell and similar bundled games. The top PC game categories are strategy, world building and flight simulation genres. Console users, however, prefer the fighting, sports and driving simulation categories.
- Nearly half of gamers spend one to five hours per week player games, while nearly 35 percent play more than five hours a week and 24 percent play less than one hour per week.
- More than half of the respondents listed graphic quality as a major criterion when purchasing a console game.