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Popularity of Internet Bingo Growing
Throughout the global recession there was one industry that continues to thrive and expand; the internet bingo industry. In the UK the growth of the internet bingo industry has been spectacular and about 250 bingo websites now service the UK market. Internet bingo has expanded into Spain and Scandinavia and is poised to enter many other markets. Despite the ban on internet gambling in the United States thousands of US based players continue to play internet bingo unmolested. There are several factors that have supported the internet bingo industry through the global recession.
In the UK following the passage of a national smoking ban thousands of land based players made the switch to online bingo. One study showed that almost 63% of all bingo players are smokers and many of these players went online when the smoking ban went into effect. The recession itself may have actually helped the internet bingo industry. Because of the downturn in the economy many players sought inexpensive home based entertainment. Internet bingo cut many of the expenses associated with a trip to the local bingo club such as transportation costs, babysitting expenses and admission fees and refreshment expenses.
Most, if not all, internet bingo sites offer bingo bonuses of various kinds. The most common bingo bonus is the sign up bonus and some sites offer initial deposit bonuses of 500%! Bingo sites also offer substantial redeposit bonuses. There are many sites that offer free bingo for cash and free bingo has become very popular and is a great way for beginners to learn the online version of the game. The huge jackpots offered by internet bingo sites have attracted many. Most online bingo jackpots are much larger than those offered by land based bingo clubs. Internet bingo sites also have special games for unique prizes such as new cars, luxury vacations in exotic ports of call, jewelry and large cash prizes.
Recent software advances have allowed bingo sites to create a realistic atmosphere with amazing graphics and special effects. Internet bingo has become popular with younger tech savvy players. The rising popularity of social networking media has prompted bingo sites to add lively chat rooms allowing players to chat and interact with each other. In addition to bingo games most bingo websites offer slot games, table games and casino games. Roulette has become very popular with internet bingo players and several sites offer both American and European versions of roulette. Bingo now rivals online poker for the most popular online game and its easy to see why after visiting several internet bingo sites.
Online casinos financial report Vs land based casinos (Page 1 of 2)
In this article I will analyze these two industries, trends, regulations, profits and overall status.
It is clear that there is a battle going on between the online casinos to land based casinos. I took for example one of the biggest and strongest land based casinos – MGM ( $7.7 B) and one of the successful online casino company-888 Holdings ($1 B).
These companies are good examples since they are leaders and reflect the industry very well.
The war started a long time ago but I think it escalated in 2006 with the coalition of anti-gambling conservatives, together with Las Vegas interests and law enforcement which forced the government to ban online gambling.
Analysts estimated, at that time, that the amazing success of online casinos was over. Traded online casinos went down and everybody thought they were finished but it turned out to be the biggest mistake ever. Since then, land based casinos have been losing their power to online casinos.
Countries all over the world have realized that it is better to regulate online casinos rather than ban them because people will always find ways to gamble and to play the casino and banning them loses millions in taxes.
Take for example MGM
MGM together with Dubai world fund (which is a government investment fund. Its assets under management are excess of $100 billion and the revenue was $10.6 billion to in 2006) are short of funding in their $3.5 billion ( still pending) project “CityCenter” in Las Vegas due to the reluctance of the banks to give such a big loan to the project. German Deutchebank and Suiss Credit are among those banks.
The raising of finance for e $3.5.billion projects should have been completed
by end of June 2008. The cost of the project is $100 million a month.
“At present, no company in America has been able to borrow such sums from the banks” said James Maren, President of MGM Mirage in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
Just look at the trading charts of MGM. Earnings per share went down nearly 50 for the last year due to a decrease in players and a decrease in earnings.
There are several reasons for this:
First, the economy is in bad shape, gas prices are constantly rising, inflation is rising and US debt is more than $9.4 trillion and rising $1 billion a month. The stock market is also not doing well.
Second, it has become very expensive for Americans to travel to Vegas. When you pay more than $4 a gallon, you don’t drive and you don’t fly, simply because you rather save this money then spend it on traveling.
Third, online casinos are on the rise and taking a lot of players from them. With fast internet connections, smart and sophisticated online casinos and huge numbers of casinos guides, you have everything you need you need to optimize your bet.
888 HOLDINGS
888.com is one of the successful online casino operators on the web. It trades on the London Stock Exchange; market value is about $1 billiard.