Commentary

President Signs Bill; Internet Gambling Folds in Half

President Signs Bill; Internet Gambling Folds in Half

According to a recent release by Nielsen//NetRatings, Web traffic to 10 popular online gambling destinations decreased by 56 percent in the month of October, the same month President Bush signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act into law.

This drop follows a year of fairly consistent unique audience growth among online gambling destinations, demonstrating the profound impact of the law signed on October 13th. However, some gambling Web sites have yet to feel the pinch of this new legislation, and many industry analysts speculate that there are ways to circumvent these restrictions and continue to do good business.

Web Traffic Trend to Popular Online Gambling Destinations(U.S., Home and Work)

Site

Oct-05

Sep-06

Oct-06

10/05-10/06

09/06-10/06

PartyPoker.com

2,412

7,476

2,503

4%

-67%

PokerStars.com

1,137

1,653

1,349

19%

-18%

Sportsbook.com

645

1,485

1,191

85%

-20%

Bodog.com

500*

649

678*

36%

4%

FullTiltPoker.com

302*

439

623

106%

42%

Absolute Poker

N/A

510

520

N/A

2%

Ultimatebet.com

418*

536

511

22%

-5%

Casino On Net

782

1,610

454*

-42%

-72%

Partypoker.net

N/A

435

269*

N/A

-38%

Betus.com

N/A

719

N/A

N/A

N/A

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings, November 2006

(*These Web sites do not meet minimum sample size standards. Projected and average measures for these sites may exhibit large changes month-to-month as a result.)

According to Nielsen//NetRatings, lower income households hope to strike it rich online:

  • 8.1 percent of adults online gamble on the Web, compared with 6.9 percent who gamble onsite in a casino.
  • Those with an annual income between $25,000 and $35,000 are over 25 percent more likely to engage in online gambling than the average Web user.
  • Those with an annual household income of over $150,000 are 22 percent less likely than the average Web user to gamble online.

For more information, please visit here.

Next story loading loading..