Online Gambling Did Well Last Year!

While I am always drawn to newspaper reports that quote statistics and comparisons, I didn’t actually need to read the latest report by H2 Gambling Capital where it showed that the internet gambling industry grew by 12.5% in 2010. I read industry news and frequent portals enough to see that this industry is definitely on the up and up, with figures increasing with each passing year.

The latest report, though, confirmed what we have all been feeling and witnessing – that egaming has bucked the economic recession and is doing very well for itself. Internet gambling wins, according to the report, totalled just under $30 billion in 2010.  I can already hear some skeptics saying: “Well, sure, it was the year of the World Cup in South Africa, so it’s only natural that online betting would get a major boost.”  So, listen to this: The guys at H2 Gambling Capital tell us that even if the World Cup had not taken place, online gambling would still have grown by 11.4%.  So that puts pay to that theory!

Some other interesting stats to come out of the report showed that the fastest growing products were online bingo and online casinos. 2010 was definitely a bumper year for online bingo, with revenues stacking in at $2.67 billion – a growth of 28.4%. Online casinos did amazing well too, taking in revenues of $6.24 billion, which translates into a growth of 13.3% compared to 2009.

Sportsbetting also showed double digit growth, clocking in revenues of $12.06 billion (up 10.8% in comparison to the previous year).

And here are even more interesting facts:

• Online poker was the slowest growing product in the overal online gambling category, but still managed to grow by 7.1% compared to 2009.
• There are now 2,400 real money gambling sites across the world. This indicates 160 less than the previous year, however, as the industry continues to grow, more and more consolidation is expected. As such, they may be fewer online gambling sites, but the quality of those existing ones is higher overall.
• The report sees the future of online gambling growth through mobile devices as this market continues to break sales records across the globe.