March 10, 2010 (CAP Newswire) – As reported at the CAP News page recently, the numbers for land-based casino attendance in the U.S. are continuing to drop, and that almost certainly correlates with the recent rise in American online gambling — even as U.S. lawmakers struggle with the idea of whether or not it’s even legal.
This theory was recently backed up by media analysts Mintel International Group, who released a report stating that land-based casino attendance had dropped by 14 percent over the past nine years. “Only 30% of adults visited a casino in the past year, down from 35% in 2001, a 14% loss,” the report states. Read it here.
Mintel’s numbers aren’t so confident when it comes to the rise in Internet gambling, however. “12% of adults have visited an online casino or gambling site in the past 12 months,” the report says, but it doesn’t provide any older stats to compare that figure to.
“Maybe if we were certain that the online gambling figure of 12% was a significant increase, that would mean something,” writes GamblingReview.com, taking the devil’s advocate approach. “However, with no previous number given, maybe the 12% figure is a decrease as well.
“But for the sake of argument, let’s say that it’s true that people who once gambled in land-based casinos are now exclusively playing online. Why would that be? It’s probably because of price and convenience. Blockbuster is fighting tooth and nail to keep every possible customer right now amid their massive store closings, while people flock to Netflix and Pay-Per-View. Those services are cheaper and don’t require the customer to leave their house.”
So, whether or not land-based gambling’s demise is because of Internet gambling’s rise, it does seem to be the case that more gamblers are choosing to play online instead of fronting the expense to travel to actual land-based casinos. And that’s good news for online gambling affiliate marketers, who can look forward to a continued increase in traffic and set their marketing plans accordingly.