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Europeans flock to gambling sites By Staff
14-04-2005 04:13 PM
Related: Advertising Gambling Gaming Research
Internet gambling sites are taking off across Europe, with more than 14 million Europeans, or 14% of those online from home, visiting a gambling and sweepstakes site in February, according to new data.
The research from Nielsen//NetRatings, reveals that the majority of European visitors are using a high-speed Internet connection. France, Switzerland and Spain lead the way with more than 80% of visitors connecting via broadband.
In the UK, The National Lottery is the most popular gambling and sweepstake site, attracting more than 1.3 million visitors from home in February 2005. This audience figure puts the site in the top 40 most visited sites in the UK.
The gambling category in the UK has seen strong growth over the past twelve months, with audiences up by 45% when compared to the same time last year.
This growth has been driven by a range of gambling, betting and online casino sites, and not just by the National Lottery, which accounts for 35% of the market.
This was followed by William Hill with a 6.3% market share, Partypoker.com (6.2%) and Ladbrokes (5.6%).
Gabrielle Prior, European Internet analyst said: With nearly more than one in ten online
Europeans visiting a gambling site this is clearly an important sector for the Internet
industry.
In broader terms, gambling and sweepstake sites were most popular with French and Swedish surfers, but have yet to make a mark in southern Europe, with less than 10% of Spanish and Italians logging on to gamble.
Interestingly, the research revealed that the amount of time spent on the sites did not always depend on connection speed.
In France, Sweden and the UK, the time spent on gambling and sweepstakes sites was similar between dial-up and broadband users, suggesting that slower connection speed is not offputting for the determined gamblers in these countries.
By comparison, in Switzerland, Italy and Germany high speed Internet users are spending significantly more time than those connecting at a slower speed.
Online gambling and casino sites are also prolific online and offline advertisers, Prior added.
We expect to see this category continue to grow as advertising attracts consumers and
the sites add more and more games and prizes. We know from earlier survey work that
UK gamblers like the speed and convenience of betting online, and as the broadband
boom continues we expect more people to try online gambling.
Top 10 UK Gambling/ Sweepstake sites
Unique Audience shown in (000s). Sweepstakes sector reach shown in brackets
1.The National Lottery 1,322 (35.0%)
2. William Hill 239 (6.3%)
3. Partypoker.com 233 (6.2%)
4. Ladbrokes 213 (5.6%)
5. Pacific Poker 151 (4.0%)
6.Cyberslotz 139 (3.7%)
7. The Gaming Club 131 (3.5%)
8. LoopyLotto 119 (3.2%)
9. Golden Palace Online Casino 117 (3.1%)
10. Vernons 102 (2.7%)
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings
