How many players play.......

[just play]

For the publicly listed gaming companies (such as Party Gaming, 888, 32 Red etc) it's possible to get the number of players that play at their casino's from the companies Annual Reports/Accounts.

According to Party Gaming's 2008 results (which is available from the PartyGaming website), on average there were 11,700 players who played at their casino for 'real' money in 2008. This figure is up from 11,000 in 2007.

Of interest, Party Casino actually signed up 80,000 new real money players in 2008, again up from their 2007 figure of 47,000.

Another interesting statistic is that overall throughout 2008, Party Casino 545,500 unique players played at their site for real money at one time or other during the year.

It's a profitable business as well - in terms of Net Revenue, Party Casino made $481,000 per day (yes that's per day!) in 2008 - and that's just the casino side of the business.

Thank you very much Buddy...I'm just a nosey person and like to ask a lot of questions. (no I don't want to open a casino , I was just thinking of this the other day when I cast my guess for Villentos mystery symbol)

11,000 seems low to me.

In one year 47,000 to 80,000 Must have good publicity...which leads me to my next questions...



When a new casino starts how long does it take on average for their casino players to grow? If it's a partner of another casino it would probably be quicker, but what about a brand new casino? And where do they get the money from to pay off winners? Say the casino just opens and someone hits for $100,000, where does that money come from if they haven't made that from their players? They must have a set amount that they have to have in "their bank" I would guess?

[Westland Bowl]

I've wondered if there is a co-relation between the number of active players and payouts: the more players an online casino has, the higher the payouts (or the easier it is to GET a payout).

[Buddy]

When a new casino starts how long does it take on average for their casino players to grow? If it's a partner of another casino it would probably be quicker, but what about a brand new casino? And where do they get the money from to pay off winners? Say the casino just opens and someone hits for $100,000, where does that money come from if they haven't made that from their players?

I'm sure there are a few people on this forum who could answer this better than me but I'll give it a go with my limited knowledge on the subject. As far as I understand it if you were to set up an online casino you have 2 options:

1. Establish and build your own proprietary software - a massive job. The last company I heard doing that failed (Mansion) - I believe they gave up and went to one of the major software suppliers instead. They would obviously need a bit of a bank roll to ensure they could operate (pay winnings) as well as support the business (pay wages). I don't think may operators would go down this route anymore as the software suppliers that produce the games have been doing it for years and are likely to come up with a better product than you could design and build in house.

2. Purchase a license from a major software supplier - now someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that if you purchase a license these days, the software supplier requires a very hefty up front fee (in the millions). I assume this is used to guarantee winnings in some way?

As for the growth in players. That really depends on the product and the geographical markets the gaming operator is trying to target. A success story in resent years has been PKR poker - now I know the site isn't everyones cup of tea, but they have managed to grow fairly rapidly since their launch a couple of years ago. (PokerScout has them as the 14th busiest poker room when I last checked). This growth has been impressive because they have entered a mature competitive poker market at a late stage but have still managed to muscle in on the back of an innovative product which offers something different to players.

The real problem most gaming operators have is not just attracting players but actually retaining them. Going back to PartyGamings 2008 financial statements, only 24% of Party Gaming poker players are "active" after 6 months from their original registration. It's so easy for players to transfer between sites with little or no loyalty. The industry is still waiting for a decent loyalty program that actually keeps players playing at their site. I certainly haven't seen one yet.