The IGN Data Hub - Mar 28, 2001

• Total ban - 145
• Local user ban - 27
• Ban the ban - 467

Why Do People Gamble Online Anyway?
Some online gambling site operators are inclined to just accept that people like to gamble while online, but Blackjack.com wanted to know more about its players' reasoning. And they found that misconceptions were rampant. Even though more than 8 million people claim to have wagered online, a national survey found that the overall awareness of online gambling is low and many people are unaware that they could potentially win real money while gambling over the Internet.

"It's clear that not many people are aware of all the online gambling options, especially when it comes to winning real money," commented Baron Menzel, CEO of Paramount Trading, which runs Blackjack.com.

The survey found that those who do log on to gamble said they do so for convenience (16 .6 percent), while nearly 10 percent of the male respondents said they like the idea of gambling while in their underwear. More than a third of the male respondents also said that blackjack was their favorite gambling game, while the female respondents were split between slots (17.6 percent) and bingo (17.2 percent).

Young Gamblers
Officials in the U.S. and Canada, as well as those from gaming companies, aren't doing much to prevent underage gambling, and the result is a troubling number of school age kids reporting gambling problems. According to a California psychologist who has been studying the problem, at least six out of 10 junior high ad high school aged students have gambled, while about four students in a typical classroom are problem gamblers.

"In both countries this is the first generation of youth who've grown up in a society where gambling is not only legal but is socially and morally acceptable," Dr. Durnand Jacobs, a part-time professor at the Loma Linda University medical school and vice president of the National Council on Problem Gambling, told the Chicago Sun Times. "We just have not learned how to raise children in a society where these conditions prevail."

Jacobs' research also found that during the years 1984 to 1988 45 percent of youths surveyed reported gambling the previous year. Studies since that time show the median average rate of young gamblers in both Canada and the U.S. has grown to 66 percent.

Casino Workers Likely to Gamble
Does constant exposure to gambling make one more likely to give in to temptation, eventually leading to problem gambling? Yes, according to one speaker at the recent Canadian Gaming Summit, who explained that casino workers are more likely to gamble, smoke, drink heavily and suffer from depression. Game Planit's Roger Horbay suggested that casino executives should watch their staff for signs of problem gambling and make clear what the odds are of winning while gambling. "Working in a gaming environment distorts your perception," the National Post quotes Horbay as saying. He added, "At the end of their shift, they always remember the winners. I asked [dealers] how many big winners did they have. And they would say, 'Three.' I would ask how many losers and they'd say, 'I don't know.' If you think of all the losers, you'd go crazy. It's a defense mechanism."

Not Many Irish Eyes Smiling Online Yet
While the number of Irish households having Internet access has grown 400 percent between 1998 and 2000, Ireland still lags behind other European Union member nations. A recent survey by the Irish Central Statistics Office shows that 262,700 homes on the Emerald Isle, or 20.4 percent of Irish homes, had an Internet connection by the end of last year, compared to 61,100 in 1998. On the other end of the spectrum is Sweden, which has one of the highest online penetration rates worldwide--more than 40 percent. The survey also found that in Ireland only16,000 people use their televisions to surf the Web, while 26,300 use WAP services and another 5,000 go online via a games console.

Online Chat in the U.K. Doubles
More than 900,000 U.K. home Internet users chatted while online, according to researchers at NetValue. This figure is double the number of users (487,000) reported last February. Four out of 10 chat users are aged 35 or older, while men account for nearly 69 percent of total usage. Among other age groups, 51,500 chat users were aged 14 or younger. Chat users are also more likely to go online than the average Internet user. Chatters spent 17 days online during February compared to the 10 days average users hit the WWW.

Why the Secrecy?
Men like the Internet because they can hide certain activities from their significant others, according to a study by Web User. Women like to use websites that will help them accomplish things while men are having fun and hiding what that fun is. Researchers also say that a large reason why men and women have disparate views of the Internet can be attributed to the easy access users have to online gambling, gaming, and adult entertainment sites. Yahoo! News checked out the survey and found some other interesting factoids, such as that 20 percent of the respondents placed their PCs in a spare room for privacy, while 15 percent hid their online activities by switching between applications. Further, 67 percent of women felt that men used the Internet to engage in a little anonymous flirting, while 91 percent of the male respondents said they wouldn't dream of actually using an online dating service.

One Quarter of Online Content Sites Will Be Profitable
New research from ActivMedia suggests that at least one quarter of current online content websites (including media, portal, information and publisher sites) are profitable right now. The intense competition from both online and offline sources are squeezing these firms, but researchers believe that 29 percent of these sites will still manage to attain profitability levels next year. ActivMedia researchers also hold that the key to success is experience, reporting that 42 percent of the online content websites that have been online three or more years have attained profitability.

Worldwide B2B Online Commerce To Reach $8.5 Trillion By 2005
Gartner Research says that despite the recent slowdown in the economy, the international B2B online commerce market is likely to hit $8.5 trillion by 2005. "The economic downturn can be viewed as a reprieve for enterprises that weren't able to keep up with the e-business leaders," explained a Gartner research director. "This is not a time to retrench, but rather an opportunity to get your house in order, work on internal adoption of e-business and associated change management and prepare to take advantage of and profit from the massive changes that will play out by 2005."

Last year, worldwide B2B Internet commerce sales transactions were valued at $433 billion, a 189 percent increase over the previous year's total value. This year, the figure is expected to reach $919 billion, and $1.9 trillion in 2002.

How Long Before Seeing Profits?
Despite the big plans of many firms, profitability is elusive for many, especially when it involves the Internet. The news is filled with tales of the recent hot shots that went belly-up instead of achieving success. This story holds true for B2B websites, which face enormous odds on the path to profitability. Experience plays a pivotal role in whether these B2B sites will become profitable, reports ActivMedia Research, which found that 46 percent of B2B firms that have been online for three or more years have found financial success. This compares to only 32 percent across all B2B websites regardless of how long they've been online.

"Half of all B2B firms that do business both online and offline indicate that their online order size is smaller than offline orders," commented an ActivMedia spokesperson. "Another third find that the order size is the same. This provides little incentive for some B2B firms to develop their online business. Further, more than half also claim to be conducting purchasing functions online. Some B2B firms may be establishing a Web presence in order to do business with other firms that are also online rather than to increase revenue. Cutting costs by conducting business functions such as purchasing online is another way to affect profitability margins. Rather than increasing revenue, some firms may look to the Net as a cost-cutting strategy. Either way, the Internet opens doors to increased profitability."

ActivMedia just released a report discussing the profitability of online B2B sites, "Online Success Strategies in B2B Markets," which costs $495. It's available online at http://www.activmediaresearch.com/online_success_strategies_in_b1.html

Bad News in the Bay
Most Internet firms located in California's Bay area are doomed to fail during the next year, according to a study by Cushman & Wakefield Inc. and the Rosen Consulting Group. Researchers checked out the debt levels and current and projected earnings for 150 publicly traded dot-com companies, mainly in an effort to determine how the commercial real estate trade would be affected by an economic downturn among companies there. During the recent boom times, Web firms in the Bay area helped to drive up rental rates as they expanded, but those rates have dropped somewhat since the beginning of last year while 22,000 dot-com employees lost their jobs. And even though the dot-com boom is busting, reports the Wall Street Journal, the Bay area economy is unlikely to be hard hit by the downturn thanks to the economic growth other areas are experiencing.