By Samantha Williams
The gambling internet is an interesting animal; it has grown and evolved possibly more than any other online industry world-wide. It is a multi-billion dollar business which remains more popular than ever before. Here we are talking about the UK and Europe in the majority, as unfortunately online gaming of any type is still completely wrapped up in grey areas for online gamblers in the USA.
At this point in time it is estimated that as many as 100 million people play bingo, either online or off – all over the world. According to experts, the next few years will see these numbers grow. Forecasts are telling us that online gaming in the UK and Europe could be worth as much, if not more than €8 billion by the end of 2012. Right now in the UK alone, the online bingo industry is worth approximately £1 billion annually. This is a serious industry, it is mainstream – and captains of industry are sitting up to take avid notice.
While some people might be starting to believe that the gambling internet must be bottoming out, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact there are a whole host of new possibilities anticipated for 2012, and into the future. Several new marketplaces should open up, and these could prove to be very important. As well as that, social attitudes are changing, and it is believed that this will influence the market too.
Online Bingo does and will continue to take a large slice of the pie in the gambling internet business.
Bingo online is an attractive marketplace for operators as well as players, and this is because of a massively alluring demographic. The market is made up of a wide variety of age groups, from all different walks of life. What is even more interesting is that Facebook and other forms of social networking, have the potential to offer entirely new ways of marketing and monetising this game. This is also the case in countries where online gambling for real money is not allowed by law. They get around this problem in the same way as Zynga Poker, by offering transactions for ‘virtual goods’.
Right now the biggest question for operators is how to steer through a marketplace that is packed to the brim with new technology which evolves all the time. There are also the questions of massive competition, newly emerging marketplaces and platforms.
Besides all of this, there are a whole host of general complexities, but nothing stands still on the internet. By its very nature it is an entity that is often spoken about as though it has a heartbeat, and the fevered competition of the past few years will continue as a new evolution takes place. There is still a wealth of opportunities available for both the player and the operator.
