Some EU casino report growth, even during tough economic times
Mar 23rd, 2009 by admin
Courtesy of: More Online Casinos
As Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and other major brick and mortar casino resort cities suffer, it’s actually reported that online casinos are experiencing a slight growth.
According to a Reuters news report, released around March 12, 2009, European online casino operations should see a 10% growth in revenues, as interest in online gambling continues to grow.
This is due in part to the EU’s more open stance on online casino gambling, opposed to the USA, which currently forbids banks from processing any online gambling related transactions. There are a few basic reasons for this interesting trend.
One, it’s clear that while people have money to gamble, they don’t have money to travel and stay in a hotel for a week. Lodging, food, and airfare are all considerable expenses when one considers a trip to Las Vegas, so it makes sense that many casino fans simply drop them out of the equation altogether and just play online at home. Clearly, playing online casino games from one’s laptop is much more cost effective than planning an extensive stay in Las Vegas, Monte Carlo, Reno, or Atlantic City.
Second, while the USA is clearly crippled by the recent economic woes, a few European nations with concrete economies are maintaining the status quo; neither suffering from the recession, nor improving. As a result, citizens of these more affluent nations have money for leisure activities, unlike their American counterparts. Many online casino industry heavy-weights, like Microgaming Software, have dropped the USA market entirely and moved on to the European Union, Canada, Australia, and beyond.
Finally, payment solutions for European casinos are widely available and reliable. Many top European bookmakers and casinos have extensive cashier systems that are plugged right into major banks and payment systems. For example, Solo, Switch, and Maestro are all welcomed by casinos. In the USA, however, if one purchases casino chips, many times the transaction goes through what is known as an “uncoded” processor, a company that disguises the true reason for the purchase with a less conspicuous company or transaction title.
Eventually, as the economy returns to normal, business from the USA should grow again. In the meantime, online gaming companies that were wise enough to diversify their marketing into Europe and other non-USA jurisdictions should see things continue as normal, or even improve.