October bad for online gambling visits

[Professor]

Well I dont think I am going way out on a limb when I say if you cut off 80% of your potential market world wide then your traffic is going to drop off a cliff and your Neilsen ratings (and profits) will reflect that.

That's what happened to Party and Casino On Net. I am sure this drop off would be evident at Cryptologic and Playtech sites too if we had access to their actual visitor statistics.

The numbers would also indicate that Businesses such as Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and Bodog who still welcome US players are being rewarded with an INCREASE in traffic. Again not very hard to imagine.

Do the Neilsen ratings reflect an OVERALL drop in player traffic? We dont have enough data to state this as a verified fact, but I have to believe all the negative press in the mainstream media has had a chilling effect on casual players and cant be helping anyones numbers.

[jetset]

Lies, damned lies and statistics....


THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ONLINE GAMBLING TRAFFIC DEBATE

Has the UIGEA stopped US players gambling? Pick your statistics....

With both comscoreMedia Metrix and Neilsen NetRatings reporting that traffic to a basket of online gambling sites was significantly down in October as a result of the UIGEA readers might be forgiven for thinking that US gamblers have folded their cards....until the latest ScanSafe report was published this week giving a contrary perspective.

ScanSafe is a global Web security firm who's Global Threat Report is based on real-time analysis of over 5 billion Web requests (in October) and claims its process provides the largest analysis of Web security threats around. And ScanSafe claims that in October its numbers show a 40 percent increase in U.S.-based requests for gambling-related Web pages

The company also reported that spyware incidents increased for the second consecutive month as the online holiday shopping season gets underway.

"Given the recent [UIGEA] U.S. legislation, we had anticipated a drop in visits to gambling sites," said Dan Nadir, vice president, product strategy, ScanSafe. "However, we actually saw an increase in Web requests from the U.S. for online gambling sites."

"Some of the Web requests were related to betting on the World Series in October," Nadir added. "This could have been compounded by gamblers looking to register with alternative providers before further regulations clarifying the Act are put into place."

The company recorded a 15 percent increase in spyware and adware in October, following a 21 percent increase in September.

"We saw a similar upward trend in spyware during the run-up to the holiday season last year, with a doubling of spyware and adware blocks in the second half of the year," said Nadir. "For spyware authors, online holiday shopping is a rich target. A significant number of users conduct their online holiday shopping at work, where they may feel they are more secure. This makes it imperative that businesses have the appropriate security controls in place to address the increased likelihood of exposure to spyware, phishing and Web-based viruses."

In a survey of 1 500 users conducted in the run-up to Christmas in 2005, ScanSafe found that over a third of office workers had shopped online while at work or were planning to do so. Yet, 60 percent of respondents were not worried at all about the potential security risks.

For consumers, ScanSafe encourages the use of Scandoo, an online tool that allows users to conduct Internet searches more safely. Currently in beta, Scandoo is a free tool that scans search results for malware and unwanted content in real-time, warning users about potentially dangerous sites before they visit them. Search results are classified with icons -- a green icon if it is safe, an amber icon if it's unclassified and should be approached with caution or a red icon if it's one to be avoided. Sites containing malware are clearly identified with a 'bug' icon.

Readers can obtain a copy of the latest ScanSafe Global Threat Report from gtr@scansafe.com.

[Simmo!]

That's more like it

[cipher]

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
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Unduplicated UA 4,356 11,836 5,185 19% -56%
of 10

Those are some pretty sobering percentages. Thanks for posting them JET.

Have a good one.