The latest predictions measuring the global online gambling industry has been released by EMarketer – and they expect worldwide revenues of $10 bn in 2005 – thats the house take, not the turnover or churn.
Despite online gambling being a 'grey' area in the US (by grey, that means the US won't legalise it or decide whether its illegal. Indecision reigns), the report claimed that various sources suggested over 20-40 million US players visited gambling or sweepstake sites – the sweepstake claim is interesting since these are both legal, free and normal forms of competitions in the US – and are not 'gambling'.
'Fueled by a poker craze, the growth of broadband, and television coverage, online gambling is quickly moving to the mainstream,' says Ben Macklin, analyst at eMarketer.
Of the 14 million user in Europe, Germans have the highest number of players – but Sweden and France have the largest percentage
Article: Worldwide 2005 online gambling revenues seen over 10 bln usd – study