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LATEST NEILSEN STATS CONFIRM OCTOBER DECLINE IN US ONLINE GAMBLING VISITS

Average 56 percent decrease in October


After months of steady, double digit growth, U.S. online gambling visits showed a marked decline in October, according to Internet usage specialists Nielsen//NetRatings on the release of the companys latest monthly statistical report.

Web traffic to 10 popular online gambling destinations decreased by an average 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.

The Neilsen report confirms an earlier Metrix report (see previous InfoPowa bulletin) which found a general 27 percent decline in traffic to online gambling sites.

Neilsen NetRatings reported on its analysis of the following sites:


Table 1: 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
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PartyPoker.com 2,412 7,476 2,503 4% -67%
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PokerStars.com 1,137 1,653 1,349 19% -18%
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Sportsbook.com 645 1,485 1,191 85% -20%
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Bodog.com 500* 649 678* 36% 4%
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FullTiltPoker.com 302* 439 623 106% 42%
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Absolute Poker N/A 510 520 N/A 2%
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Ultimatebet.com 418* 536 511 22% -5%
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Casino On Net 782 1,610 454* -42% -72%
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Partypoker.net N/A 435 269* N/A -38%
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Betus.com N/A 719 N/A N/A N/A
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Unduplicated UA 4,356 11,836 5,185 19% -56%
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