IS ONLINE POKER AT SATURATION LEVEL?
20 November 2009
Marketing publication suggests that
stagnation is setting in
Interesting reading this week included a piece in
Marketing Week which suggested that the online poker
market has reached its peak and may be about to decline.
The article quotes a Mintel research report that the
sector has stagnated with gross gaming yield valued at
GBP 265 million last year. What’s more, this year the
market is expected to decline by 7 percent to GBP 247
million.
The downturn follows impressive growth
of 72 percent between 2004 and 2007.
Mintel’s
study found that almost a third of players have changed
their poker habits as a result of the impact of the
recession - playing the game less often or for smaller
stakes. Average spend per year has fallen by almost 20
percent in the past two years, down from GBP 345 in 2007
to GBP 281 in 2009.
Recent public company results
appear to support this suggestion.
Matt King,
senior leisure analyst at Mintel, says: “Poker revenues
have clearly peaked. The recession is the most obvious
culprit, with around a third of poker players now
playing less often or for lower stakes because of the
economic downturn.
"However, there may be other
inherent problems that the industry has to address.”
Among these, Kings points to rakeback promotions,
which he claims are minimising margins and “showing the
emphasis is on customer numbers, not the profit
generated per customer.”
Mintel notes that the
online poker sector does have a loyal following, with
over half of pokerheads playing once a week or more,
while around a third of online players play once a week
or more. It also points out that whilst the recession
has impacted online poker, its effects have been much
less than for the live game played in commercial venues
like casinos, clubs and pubs.
Player boredom has
played a part in the decline in live poker, suggesting
that site refreshment is needed as well as more
innovation, the study notes. By contrast, a real
strength of the online poker sector is the diversity of
sites available, which allows players motivated by
various forces to find a site or room that appeals to
them.
Online Casino News Courtesy of
Infopowa
More news here.
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