News

New Jersey casinos have until the end of this month to apply for an online gambling licence with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, regulators have announced. Foreign software firms and companies based out of state that intend to partner with the casinos need to file their applications by 29 July.

This is so that regulators have sufficient time to consider all applications in detail and to investigate all companies that are not registered in New Jersey.

Companies that are granted an online gambling licence will be allowed to officially launch online casinos on 26 November this year. The tight deadline is putting casinos under pressure as the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has a number of strict requirements that some might fail to comply with in time. According to regulators, licences will be awarded only to companies that meet the highest standards. This raises the question of how many of the 12 Atlantic City casinos will be prepared to apply over the short period left before the deadline and how many will prefer to wait and submit their applications at a later date.

We expect the largest American casinos will apply for licences and some of them have already formed partnerships with online gambling providers from out of the country such as 888 and bwin.party.

New research from the Entertainment Software Association reveals what most people would consider somewhat surprising results regarding the typical gamer profile. According to the study, adult women are more likely to play online games than teenage boys.

As we wrote last week (‘More than half of 31-45 year olds play mobile games’ June 13^th) digital Pay2Play entertainment has become a mainstream component of people’s digital leisure time. It’s the shape of the demographic profile that is surprising to many people.  Overall, women are almost as likely to engage in gaming as men – 45% versus 55%. However, female players over the age of 18 represent a significantly higher proportion of the total in comparison to boys under 17 (31% against 19%).

The most popular types of online games were found to be puzzle and board games, played by 34% of people, followed by action and strategy games, which were favoured by 26%. Casual and social games are a favourite for 19% of players, while 14% opt for persistent multi-player universe gameplay, the poll showed.

Nearly two in three players like having company when playing, either online or in-person. Of those, 77% play together with other people at least for an hour each week. One in three gamers play social games, the Entertainment Software Association said.

Thanks to the development in mobile devices, playing games on the go is becoming increasingly common. As many as 36% of players engage in this activity on their smartphones while they are on the move, while one in four play games on their wireless devices. In total, 43% of smartphone owners use them to play games and 30% do so on their wireless devices.

The key to financial success for digital Pay2Play operators is a rarefied version of the 80/20 Rule; rather more the 95/5 Rule. More customers mean better gameplay (whether it’s Subway Surfers or PartyPoker) but it’s a small minority of customers who spend disproportionately more – considerably more – playing the game. We would like to see a survey published of these customers but imagine the gender split would be overwhelmingly male.

The business model of gaming and monetised games playing is shifting and the trends accelerating. Traditional gaming devices are being dropped in favour of multipurpose devices, as UK consumers increasingly turn to casual and mobile gaming, new research from Ofcom has revealed.

Results from the survey suggest that the number of people who played online games on consoles and TV dropped from 27% to 25% between 2009 and 2012. Similarly, usage of handheld players also fell over the period.

Meanwhile, the use of multipurpose devices for gaming showed robust growth. In 2012, 13% of respondents stated that they played online games on their mobile phones, which is more than double the number in 2009. At the same time, 5% of UK consumers used tablets for this purpose, while this option was practically non-existent in 2010.

Another survey carried out by Ipsos MediaCT reached similar conclusions, suggesting that the use of games consoles was losing ground. Over the period between January 2011 and November 2012, penetration of the most traditional gaming platform dropped, or at best remained unchanged.

One of the key conclusions from both surveys is the fact that casual gaming is emerging as a preferred option for gaming over traditional solutions offered by Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft. The main reason is that casual gaming platforms are cheaper and more accessible.

The UK gaming market is predicted to change over the coming years, considering that one in three smartphone owners and more than two in three tablet owners used their devices to play games in November 2012, with expectations for these numbers to rise further.

The overwhelming feeling amongst industry participants and observers at the recent iGaming Supershow in Amsterdam was that the ‘King Bill’ looked to be dead in the water.  The Internet Gambling Regulation, Enforcement, and Consumer Protection Act of 2013 has been introduced by Rep. Peter King (R-NY) in a bid to regulate all forms of online gambling, with the exception of sports betting, which is banned in most states.

If the bill was to pass, it would legalise online gambling in the United States and would acknowledge state regulation laws if states agreed not to opt out. However, it looks as if a federal law is becoming less and less likely, as the time for its approval is running out before states are given the last word to decide how to proceed with the matter.

The bill would regulate all online poker and casino games and, although the exact games to be allowed are not included, it is believed that all casino games under the class III gaming category would be legalised, including craps, roulette, slot machines, video poker and any table game banked by the house involving cards. Poker is specifically mentioned in the bill, Legal Poker Sites website reported.

Certain states have already taken action, such as California, which proposed a bill that would lead to the automatic opt-out of the state of any future regulation regarding online gambling. By contrast, the state of Washington took a different stance and criminalised online poker for both operators and players. Attempt to appeal the act are currently being made but it is likely to take a long time before a court ruling is announced, the website said.

We believe that federal oversight of US online gaming is highly likely in the near future, especially as the growth in social gaming is prompting authorities to take a holistic view on all areas of digital Pay2Play entertainment. Which bill is the precursor to this is still some time away from being determined.

Consumer polls and surveys continue to demonstrate the growth of digital Pay2Play digital entertainment. For many years the stereotypical gamer was seen as young, male and with plenty of time to kill. Technology has altered lifestyles beyond recognition in just a few years and gaming is no exception, as the widespread adoption of smartphones has created a new generation of older gamers.

According to а survey carried out by One Poll at the beginning of May, more than half of the interviewed smartphone owners between 31 and 44 years of age play games on their mobile devices. Moreover, 37% of respondents aged between 45 and 60 also engage in gaming as a pastime, with figures dropping to 26% in the age group 61 and over.

This means that an estimated 15 million UK consumers over the age of 31 represent a potentially powerful gaming market, the Daily Express reported.The survey was commissioned by mobile operator O2 and researchers interviewed 2,000 British smartphone owners.

The poll also revealed that, as well as reaching new audiences, games are claiming more loyal followers, as 58% of those who played games did so on a daily basis. Many of those were former gamers that had dropped the habit for a few years but have now returned to the activity. The most popular games for people over 31 were Angry Birds, Solitaire and Temple Run, the poll found.

The popularity of digital Pay2Play platforms continues growing globally. Burlywood Capital believe that over the next four years digital Pay2Play entertainment will be, by far, the fastest growing category in the global media and entertainment industry. More people see digital Pay2Play entertainment as an opportunity not just to have fun, but also to improve their games skills. Northern Europe, through high broadband and mobile penetration, continues to be at the leading edge of this rising tide.

According to the latest figures from ComScore, almost one in three Internet users from the Nordic countries, including Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, accessed sites for online gambling in April 2013. Some 4.8 million people visited gambling sites, which equals 29% of all people using the Internet.

Figures revealed that all five major sites in the gambling category recorded a robust growth over the past 12 months, comScore also said. Among the Nordic audience, Unibet Sites enjoyed the biggest popularity, with 893,000 unique visitors in April, up 179% year-on-year. The largest growth in terms of visitor numbers, however, was achieved by PokerStars, which recorded a 338% increase in visitor volume. With a total of 551,000 users, it firmly took the runners-up spot.

 The third position was for William Hill, with 484,000 visitors, followed by Betsafe.com and Svenskaspel.se, which saw growth in visitor volumes of 201% and 4% respectively. Betsafe.com registered 435,000 unique visitors, while Svenskaspel.se saw the slowest change rate compared to last year, with 430,000 users in April, data showed.

The adoption of regulated digital cash gaming in the US will transform the global landscape for digital Pay2Play entertainment. Atlantic City’s casino Atlantic City’s casinos are optimistic that big money could start pouring into their vaults once Internet gambling becomes an option. This prediction was backed by a group of Wall Street analysts, who spoke at the East Coast Gaming Congress last week, highlighting the business opportunities that Digital Pay2Play and digital cash gaming in particular might create for the city. Atlantic City’s casinos have been hit by a loss of profit over the past seven years.

New Jersey is among three states in various stages of legalising online gambling, along with Delaware and Nevada. It had already issued regulations on online games and the way they should be carried out, with one of the rules requiring people who play to be physically present within the borders of the state. It is hoped that the business will be in full swing by the end of the year.

Digital cash gambling would be a real game-changer for Atlantic City and the state as a whole. It is going to be the biggest expansion of gambling in New Jersey after the launch of the very first casino there in 1978. Estimates vary on how much the industry could contribute to the economy of the state but some suggest that the Internet gambling market could be worth over $500 million per year. We are sure this number will prove materially light.

Download the article.