Gambling has been around long before the internet was conceived. However, online gambling remains one of the most popular online activities and especially online casinos. According to Gamblingsites.com the first form of gambling can be traced back to the 1990s. In addition, company known as Microgaming claimed to have been the first to provide such a service and functionality using real money.
Fast forward to the present the gambling industry online is an extremely lucrative business and industry growing year after. The online casino games provider, Net Entertainment (NetEnt), entered into a partnership with land-based and large bookmaker William Hill to supply its games in betting offices around the United Kingdom (U.K).
The news information provided by iGamingbusiness.com went on to add that the managing director, Björn Krantz, for NetEnt asserted that this deal between both companies was a big step and a milestone for his company.
NetEnt has an established multichannel strategy so providing these games becomes a win-win situation. In a press release the top NetEnt executive offered insights into what this new venture brings to the table.
Per Eriksson, President and CEO of NetEnt, says, “We provide leading-edge digital casino solutions and we are excited to make our thrilling games available to William Hill’s land-based players for the first time ever. William Hill is the largest betting and gaming operator in the UK and this partnership will allow us to maximize distribution in their major channels such as retail, desktop and mobile.”
It is no surprise that convergence is increasingly taking place especially in this sector because of the evolution and sophistication of technology. More and more you will start to see that business-to-consumer retailers include greater efforts on their ecommerce websites.
Online gambling revenues skyrocketing in the U.K
As online gambling became a multibillion dollar industry there came a need to regulate it and tax at the same time. In Onlinecasinoreport.com analysis confirmed record-setting revenue for the country´s gambling industry and introduction by the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) the point of consumption tax (POCT). In other words, gambling operators are required by law to obtain a license and pay 15 percent POCT on their earnings.
Revenue earnings grew and increased 5 percent reaching £7.1billion pounds. The total generated revenue excludes the national lottery revenue and the period of time analyzed to generate this figures was the result of 12 months with an end date of March 2014.
How was the £7.1billion revenue distributed? Out of the total land-based betting received 46 percent of the share following by online sports betting (19 percent), online casinos (16 percent) bingo arcades (9 percent), etc.
The industry will continue to grow and we will be witnessing some possible integrations with the mobile space as an extension of these gambling services.
U.K gambling facts and insights
The online gambling market in the U.K is robust and booming as we speak. To gain further insight with a comprehensive report was put together by Stickyeyes, International Independent Digital Agency, compiled executive insights on where the industry is heading and financials.
In the report titled “Online Gambling Sector Report 2014“ these were the following findings:
- “The sports betting market has grown by 79 percent since 2009 and remains the most dominant form of online gambling.”
- “Revenue from remote sports betting (i.e. online and mobile platforms) has grown 29 percent while over the counter (OTC) betting has declined by 2 percent.”
- “William Hill has maintained its position as market leading within the UK online gambling and betting, recording online net revenue growth of 18 percent during the first half of the year 2013.”
- “Search impression volume for sports betting has grown by 18 percent since 2012, while casino has increased by 15 percent. Of the 10 phrases within generic online gambling, bingo continues to have the highest volume of searches…”
The UK online gambling frameworks and markets differ from the rest of Europe. For example, in Great Britain from 2009 to 2014 the market has remained open. For the rest of Europe the narrative varies from having a monopoly, unregulated, prohibited to a local license required to operate an online gambling operator. To date there is not a streamline market and policies to overlap within the European Union leaving the countries to supervise and offer their own regulatory restrictions.
Popular casino games, advice and recommendations
When it comes to selecting a specific domain, service or operator one has to be very cautious and mindful of gambling. If you are considering signing up for betting, for a casino game or bingo do enough searches on the web to look at any potential complaints or issues with the online gambling provider.
Another helpful tip is to look at the different websites that offer reviews with users or customers leaving behind feedback. The last thing you want is to have gambled money and be ripped off as a result.
To look at the top 5 UK Casinos online check out Casinouk.com to look at the reviews, prices and features from the online games offered. As illustrated by Casino Room one way to verify if the game is reliable one indicator is longevity or length of time the operator has been active in the business.
Conclusions and takeaways
It is clear the UK is the frontrunner with the online gambling business in Europe. It has carefully laid out the market conditions and adequate regulations to allow operators to run their business ventures.
What will be worth watching is how the mobile space will be integrated with land-based casinos and what other trends come out of Europe giving the UKs dominance.
