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Gambling is a pastime enjoyed across the world and from the earliest of civilisations. The playing of dice, card and table games, placing bets on sports events, and more recently the emergence of statesponsored lotteries have supported the growth of a very substantial global industry.

Market size
While global statistics are extremely hard to verify, data compiled by gambling industry consultants H2 Gambling Capital from a combination of regulators, public/private operators and suppliers suggests that the reported global gaming market from licensed jurisdictions grew from US$204bn in 1999 to US$335bn in 2009, as defined by gross gaming yield to the operator – i.e.turnover less prizes/wins plus bonuses.

The 2009 figure comprises US$216bn from commercial operations such as casinos, betting shops, gaming machine arcades and regulated online ‘e-gaming’ and US$119bn from monopolies such as lotteries and horse race betting pari-mutuels. These figures do not however include any unregulated gambling activity which goes unreported.

Impact of technology
While the land-based sector is long-established and has been operated under well-defined regulation, overall the industry has undergone dramatic change and expansion over the past few decades. Technology has been an important driver of this change, for example:

  • Television has provided a global audience for high profile sporting events and live lottery draws, helping increase social acceptance and awareness of the related gambling opportunities.
  • Gaming machines have developed very substantially over the past 50 years from mechanical slots through to highly sophisticated server-based gaming terminals currently being introduced.
  • There are well over 2.5m slot or VLT-style gaming terminals worldwide.
  • Lottery terminals have appeared in a wide range of retail outlets on many high streets, along with instant win scratch cards.

It is however the internet which has had the most direct impact on the gaming sector and has opened up a new channel for gaming operators to attract players with an ever-increasing array of products.

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Gaming market 1999

Commercial operations:casinos, betting shops, gaming machine arcades and regulated online 'e-gaming'

Monopolies: lotteries and horse race betting pari-mutuels

Source: H2 Gambling Capital