Headline Feeds
Online casinos are serious about getting people to try their luck on the Web. According to a new report by Jupiter Media Metrix (Nasdaq: JMXI), Internet gambling outfits increased online advertising 170 percent from December 2000 to December 2001, drawing 13.6 million Web users to their sites in December 2001.
"The growth in online advertising among virtual casinos indicates that this industry is serious about increasing its momentum and gaining critical mass," said Charles Buchwalter, vice president of media research at Jupiter Media Metrix.
According to AdRelevance, Jupiter Media Metrix' online ad-tracking unit, Internet advertising by online casinos reached 2.5 billion ad impressions in December 2001. Casinos are now ranked fifth among 138 online industry segments, behind books, investment, consumer credit and travel.
Going Mainstream
Casino ads now are moving to mainstream sites to lure the betting crowd. In December 2000, most casino ads appeared on gambling-related sites. A year later, however, 39 percent of casino ads were hosted on portal sites, compared with just 16 percent that still appeared on gaming sites.
"The fact that casinos are transitioning their ad buys from niche sites to mainstream portals is proof that this sector is going mainstream," Buchwalter said.
Quality Time
The next trick for gambling sites, according to Buchwalter, will be to convince patrons to spend more time per visit. Las Vegas casinos accomplish this task with free drinks and no clocks, but online casinos will have to try a different tack.
In December 2001, visitors spent an average of 20.2 minutes at gambling sites, compared with 35.8 minutes at travel sites, 52.8 minutes at news sites and 62.9 minutes at sports sites.
Who's Betting
According to the report, 55 percent of visitors to gaming sites do not have children, and 33 percent use the sites while at work. Though online casinos have faced charges of allowing underage gambling, the report found that 73 percent of visitors are men and women between the ages of 25 and 54, while just 8 percent of those aged 18 to 24 years gambled online.
Jupiter Media Metrix also found that lower-income Web users are more likely to gamble. Of those who try their luck online, 13 percent have household income of less than US$25,000 and 19 percent have income of $25,000 to $40,000. Those two segments represent 11 percent and 15 percent, respectively, of the general population.
The top gambling sites in December were Kcasino.com with 2.3 million visitors, Webstakes.com with 2.3 million, Aceshigh.com with 2.1 million and Luckynugget.com with 1.7 million.
Operating an Internet gambling company is illegal in
the United States (most Web casinos are based in the
Caribbean or Canada), but that has not stopped the
industry from booming.
