British Gambling Revenue Forecast Looks Rosy
The country with the greatest concentration of gamblers in the world is on track to boost their gambling market even further with the advent of new technology that facilitates betting.
Research firm Screen Digest and bank ABN Amro released data this week indicating that currently three-quarters of the U.K. populace takes part in some form of gambling. The study forecasts that the increased variety of gadgets through which Britons can place bets will vault the amount spent on betting via these interactive channels from £588 million this year to £2.1 billion in 2010
In particular, Internet betting is expected to rise from £553 million this year to £1.4 billion in 2010 in England alone. Casinos still dominate the British betting market with a 46 percent market share.
Horse Racing Awareness Increases for Third Straight Year
TNS Research and ESPN teamed up to poll U.S. sports and racing enthusiasts aged 12 and older. Their findings were released at the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's Marketing Summit in Las Vegas this week.
Results show horse racing increased its fan base for the third straight year--from 30.4 percent in 1999 to 31.5 percent in 2000 and up to 33.3 percent in 2001. Horse racing was one of four sports that reported an increase in the fan base. Nascar topped the list with an increased fan base of 10.9 percent.
The NTRA also enjoyed increased awareness of over 27 percent from 2000 and its slogan, "Go Baby Go," was recognized by 4.2 percent more sports fans.
Canadian Problem Gamblers Aren't Seeking Treatment
Research commissioned by the Ontario Ministry of Health indicates the vast majority of problem gamblers in Canada aren't seeking treatment through various state-funded agencies set up to help these gambling addicts.
A survey of Ontario's treatment agencies showed roughly 1,425 people sought gambling-specific treatment per year - about 975 of those are the gamblers themselves and the rest are concerned family members. But other studies that estimate the number of problem gamblers at 2.7 percent to 5.4 percent of the population means that about 318,000 people in Ontario should be in treatment or 326 times the number of people that are actually in treatment programs.
The advocacy group Gambling Watch noted that aggressive awareness programs haven't materialized to let problem gamblers know that treatment is available and could be a major reason for the disparity of the numbers.
Internet Ads Don't Go Away, They Get Bigger
Reuters recently reported on a new study by Jupiter MMXI which found a significant increase in usage of the larger-sized ad formats.
Since the new ad sizes were introduced about a year ago, the larger ads have increased their impressions from 2 billion to 5.7 billion--a 185 percent increase.
"They're not swamping the Web, but bit by bit advertisers and publishers are moving toward these new formats," said Charles Buchwalter, vice president of media research for Jupiter. "Web sites like them because they create more variety, and advertisers think they help differentiate their product."
The study did not include the ever-annoying pop-up ads or rich media ads and found that the traditional banner still enjoys a 50 percent market share.
AOL Tops ISP List
A recent report by WebSideStory revealed that America Online has retained its reign at the top of the Internet Service Provider list on a global scale.
As of the end of February, AOL held onto the number one spot after slipping a couple of percentage points--from 16 percent in 1999 to 14 percent. But it's still an enormous lead over the next largest ISP, Road Runner at 2.76 percent of the global market share. Road Runner is owned by AOL Time Warner.
The list rounds out with UUNet at 2.18 percent, Sympatico at 1.04 percent, Mindspring with a 0.79 percent and T-Online at 0.61 percent market share.
Germans Exhibit Most Online Loyalty
Jupiter MMXI released data this week after following the online habits of unique visitors to European websites from November 2001 to January 2002 to see how many returned to the original sites they visited.
With 75.1 percent of visitors returning to the e-commerce sites they previously visited, Germans won the distinction of being the most loyal users.
The British followed up with 72.5 percent and France placed third with 64.9 percent.