iGaming News all over the world 28.07.2010

28.07.2010, Football World Cup showed that online betting is bigger than ever / U.K.Government to Examine 'Dormant' Gambling Accounts / Danish Online Casinos Sees New Kids on the Block / Slots evolve to meet consumer demand with more than 800,000 machines in US

Football World Cup showed that online betting is bigger than ever
Online sportsbetting operators say they took advantage of the recent World Cup to target thousands of new customers by increasing their gaming offering and investing in social media. Customer acquisition and retention in online gambling is an important theme at this year’s ninth annual European iGaming Congress and Expo, to be held October 19-21 in Copenhagen.

European iGaming Congress and Expo (EiG) will take place next 19-21 October, at Bella Center, Copenhagen, where industry leaders such as Betboo and Betsson will share their experience and success stories.

Pontus Lindwall, CEO of the online gambling firm Betsson, says “it has been a very good World Cup even though we noticed that the turnover took a slight hit after all the upsets in the beginning of the tournament where some customers lost some money.” The CEO of Betboo, Almir Ribeiro, says the early exit of favourites teams such as Italy and France “was fantastic from an operator’s point of view”. While Betsson saw the most action on the England vs USA game, for the Brazilian company Betboo, Brazil vs Ivory Cost was one of the most popular games early in the tournament.

Betsson’s Pontus Lindwall says a marked difference between the 2006 and 2010 tournament is the increase in live betting. “Now more people wait until they see how the teams are playing before placing their bets and customers who already have bets pre-match take new bets during the match. The number of different betting opportunities in the live betting has also increased a lot and during the 1/8-final between Paraguay and Japan we offered live betting on the penalty shootout where our customers could bet on if the player would score or not. This means that the customers knew in seconds if they won their bet or not!”

Betboo’s sports betting arm is less than three years old so it cannot compare its World Cup return to anything. However, says Betboo CEO Almir Ribeiro, “our cash-back promotions in 100% of the games is a unique concept in the industry and we offer a combo bonus which means for three or more bets we are increasing the payout between 3 - 10%”.

The World Cup provided a golden opportunity to target new customers with Betboo investing in social networks and on-line media buying as part of its marketing campaign. Says Almir Ribeiro: “I expect to retain 100% of the new clients as we don't have so many competitors here and we invest a lot in CRM and Customer Service”.

Betsson’s marketing strategy included running pre-event competitions and focusing on post-event customer retention. “We decided to focus on customer acquisition the months before the World Cup with World Cup competitions,” says CEO Pontus Lindwall, “rather than during the tournament since we knew that it would be cheaper for us to get new customers at that point rather than spend a lot of money during the tournament which would have cost more money. We have also had a strong focus on the development of our live betting the last 6 months in order to keep the customers that we have got. A customer should not have any reason to leave Betsson!”

Pontus Lindwall and Almir Ribeiro will both be speaking at EiG in October when more than 1500 iGaming experts will gather again to discuss regulatory, marketing and technological challenges in what is the world’s largest iGaming event.

Programme highlights and leading speakers include:

· USA regulatory keynote: When and how iGaming will be regulated in the USA – the California perspective - Senator Roderick Wright, State of California · Impact of localised regulation in Europe, with particular focus on France and Italy · EiG MegaDebate 1: iGaming vision for 2015 – discussing emerging B2B and B2G business models and future growth areas in iGaming · EiG MegaDebate 2: Future market leaders: Exploiting technology developments, innovative business models, niche products and new audiences · Start-Up LaunchPad: Discover ‘The Next Big Thing’ in iGaming · Partnership and competition: Media and entertainment brands, lotteries, social/casual games meet gambling · Innovation in products, CRM, online marketing, branding

For more information, www.eigexpo.com.

Yogonet.com

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U.K.Government to Examine 'Dormant' Gambling Accounts
The government in the United Kingdom keeps looking for the goose that lays that golden egg and may have found a reasonable facsimile of the proverbial goose. The U.K. government has announced it will commission a new report, that will examine the amount of money left dormant, or abandoned in gambling accounts registered in the United Kingdom. The compilation of funds remaining in these accounts is to be used to improve public sports facilities and sports clubs throughout the land. A pledge in the Coalition Agreement was the inspiration for the coming report which will examine the best use of abandoned betting money.

Research to determine the classifications for a betting account determining what a 'dormant' account is and what an abandoned account is. Clarification of the legal issues regarding the potential use of the funds will also be explored by the report. John Penrose, Tourism and Heritage Minister in the U.K. which is part of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has asked Bath MP Don Foster to begin to produce the report.

Penrose said, "Every day thousands of people bet on the outcome of sporting events. Therefore it seems a natural fit that funds from abandoned betting accounts should be used to benefit grassroots sports projects." MP Foster commented, " I’ll be meeting representatives from all parts of the industry to gain views and suggestions on how this can work. It would be great to see some local sporting facilities and initiatives getting some extra funding in these difficult financial times."

Foster is expected to present findings, along with possible changes to existing legislation by the end of this year. with formal consultations to begin after the research has been presented. The Department for Culture, Media and Sports responding to critics said that customers would still be able to reclaim their funds at any time, as long as they were able to prove ownership of the accounts.

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Slots evolve to meet consumer demand with more than 800,000 machines in US
A white paper released today by the American Gaming Association (AGA) pulls the curtain back on slots, exploring how they work and how the machines have evolved into America’s favorite casino game. According to the paper, there are more than 830,000 slots located across the country, and their share of the casino floor has grown from 40 % in the 1970s to approximately 70 % today.

The report, “Demystifying Slot Machines and Their Impact in the United States,” investigates how slot machines are developed, operated and regulated, as well as how they affect both gaming patrons and communities.

“Nearly 60 % of gamblers consider slot machines the most entertaining games available at casinos,” said Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., president and CEO of the AGA. “The popularity of slot machines has helped drive the expansion of commercial gaming – a vibrant industry that contributes jobs, economic development and tax revenues to hundreds of communities across the country.”

The white paper examines the defining elements of slot machines currently in use – such as the types, cost and lifespan of the games – as well as recent technological advancements in electronic games. It explores the creative process behind the development of slots, which includes lengthy design and consumer testing phases. It also details the inner workings of a slot machine, revealing precisely what occurs when play begins.

The paper notes that more than us$ 265 million is spent annually to regulate commercial casinos – ensuring, among other things, that the games operate fairly and reliably. The paper investigates how slot machines are tested and regulated, and analyzes their social impact, addressing a number of commonly reported misconceptions about the machines. Interestingly, the white paper finds that, though the gaming industry has grown substantially – and the number of casino visitors has increased to more 60 million annually – there has not been a significant jump in the typical amount wagered on slot machine games. The average casino gambling budget is us$ 108 – a figure that, when adjusted for inflation, has remained virtually unchanged for more than 30 years.

The report also notes research has not found any link between slot machines and gambling problems. Citing a number of peer-reviewed research studies from widely respected institutions, the white paper finds that, though slot machines have multiplied tremendously since the 1970s, the prevalence rate of pathological gambling has held steady during that time. Research shows that approximately 1% of adult Americans have the disorder.

“Competing in a bruising entertainment marketplace, slot machine makers have constantly innovated, keeping pace with customer demands and the trend toward increasing technological sophistication in all aspects of entertainment,” writes David Stewart, counsel at Ropes & Gray and author of the white paper."

The white paper will provide the foundation for the 13th annual Responsible Gaming Education Week (RGEW) – themed “Taking the Mystery Out of the Machine” – which will take place August 2-6, 2010. Throughout the week, casinos across the country will host activities that increase awareness of how slot machines work. Created by the AGA in 1998, RGEW is an industrywide effort to empower casino employees to share responsible gaming messages with customers and community members.

Kevin Mullally, general counsel and director of government relations at Gaming Laboratories International and Michael Pollock, managing director of Spectrum Gaming Group, served as contributing authors to the white paper.

An extensive collection of gaming experts also provided input for the report, including Anthony Baerlocher, senior staff game designer at International Game Technology; Travis Foley, technology chief at the Nevada Gaming Control Board; Phil Gelber, vice president of game development at WMS Gaming, Inc.; Bill LaPenta, director of financial analysis at Spectrum Gaming Group; Anthony Lucas, Ph.D., associate professor of casino management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Allison McCoy, senior vice president of marketing at Spectrum Gaming Group; Derris Newman, vice president of research at The Innovation Group; Marcus Prater, executive director of the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers; Christine Reilly, executive director of the Institute for Research on Gambling Disorders; and Eric Weiss, lab administrator in the technical services bureau of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.

The full text of “Demystifying Slot Machines and Their Impact in the United States,” is available at www.americangaming.org.

Yogonet.com

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Danish Online Casinos Sees New Kids on the Block
The internet can be a lucrative place if you have the right address but those addresses or domains can be very costly. Every now and again a bargain comes along that anyone with the cash and some entrepreneurial talent can take advantage of. One such bargain came up recently on the net when the URL domain name onlinecasino.dk became available to the market. It was quickly bought up by an as yet undisclosed purchaser for the small sum of $580,000. The cost of the domain name seems high but not when it's compared to the recent Bodog Casino purchase of the slots.com domain name for an outstanding $5.8 million dollars. The size of the market that the slots.com services is huge compared to the onlinecasino.dk relatively small potential.

With so much riding on the success of a web site, development issues are a priority for the purchaser who thus far has chosen to remain anonymous. Little is known about who the lucky new owner is only that it is an online gambling operator registered and licensed by the Gambling and Lottery authority in Malta.

The Danish online gambler has used the onlinecasino.dk web site as an information portal and online casino guide to get reviews and stats on various online casinos. The web site has reported as many as three and a half million visitors per month which would make it a popular and sought after destination for many would be punters in the Scandinavian region.

This sale is an indication that online gambling in Denmark is progressing to a more liberal and open market, which makes a purchase of this sort a wise one. As of July first 2010 the government of Denmark has begun to allow online gambling operators to be licensed, concluding that the online gambling market is projected to move steadily upward as interest, availability and access expands the possible potential market in the region. Danske Spil, the Danish online gambling monopoly was at on time the only game in town and now the Danes have a much greater variety of casinos and gaming entertainment to choose from on the internet.

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