Online gambling boosted by poker interest
25.05.2005Media Life Magazine opined this week that online gambling sites have grown impressively over the past six months, driven mainly by the (USA) country's renewed fascination with poker.
The publication says that during April, comScore Network's gambling category of sites attracted 29.13 million unique visitors, a 14.5 percent increase versus 25.43 million visitors last November.
The top crowd puller was iGlobalMedia Entertainment's network of sites, which includes PartyPoker.com, StarLuckCasino.com and PartyBingo.com. The iGlobalMedia sites attracted 10.35 million visitors last month, up 166 percent versus 3.89 million visitors last April.
Media Life's writer notes that many gambling companies tend to be poor communicators. He says that iGlobalMedia's Gibraltar-based corporate site lists email addresses but no phone numbers. A call to a PartyPoker.com customer service center in India got a live agent on the phone but he declined to provide corporate contact information.
Without commenting on the blitz of publicity Party has been pumping out regarding its putative IPO, the journalist speculates that the likely reason for this reticence is the testy debate over the legality of online poker in the USA.
Media Life notes that some poker sites have been running TV ads featuring endorsements from well-known American players. London-based PokerStars.com, features former World Series of Poker champions Chris Moneymaker and Greg Raymer, for example. Although the ads clearly state that PokerStars.com is not a gambling site, a visit suggests the contrary. The main page of the site advertises a weekly No Limit Texas Hold 'Em tournament with a guaranteed minimum prize pool of $350,000.
On a more general level, Nielsen Netratings stats show that for the fourth straight week average Internet usage was steady at 16 sessions per person, though average domains visited per person dropped from 36 to 35. PC time per person fell 2.39 percent to just over 14 hours and 57 minutes.
The publication lists the following as the Top 15 Online Gambling Sites, quoting Media Metrix stats for unique visits in April 2005:
1) iGlobalMedia Entertainment Inc.(10,346,000)
2) Cassava Enterprises Ltd. (9,574,000)
3) Vegasfrontier.com (3,105,000)
4) Bingocabin.com (2,881,000)
5) Sports Interaction Sportsbook and Casino (1,507,000)
6) Carmen Media Group (1,411,000)
7) Crystal Palace Casino (1,254,000)
8) InterContinental Casinos (ICC) (1,142,000)
9) Roxy Palace Casino (1,120,000)
10) iWin Network (1,036,000)
11) InterCasino Sites (1,027,000)
12) Diamond Deal Casino (944,000)
13) Vegas Lucky Casino (922,000)
14) Ultimate Bet (884,000)
15) Free Slots.com (878,000)
Source: comScore Media Metrix
