Emerging online presence
Since the mid-1990s, the internet has enabled the
playing opportunity to be brought to players’ homes.
This has greatly expanded the player base to include
those who previously might have been reluctant or
unable to travel to a licensed gaming venue.
Each segment of the gaming market has developed
an internet-based presence. In its simplest form this
has been for advertising purposes or as a means of
facilitating the checking of sporting results or
lottery numbers.
Where a more fully fledged online offering has
emerged, this has expanded the range of products
and game variations available. It has enabled an
operator to offer a wide range of related products,
from casual games to bingo, poker and casino games,
under a single brand and in a seamless format.
For skill games, playing online has produced a
substantial increase in the number of players
available at any one time to play against each other.
This offers considerable benefits for the player in
terms of choice of playing partners and available prize
money.
In most segments, the growing online gaming market
has developed its own particular identity and player
demographics which has helped to increase the size
of the overall market. It has also attracted an
increasing number of new participants whose
background is not traditional gambling, such as
entertainment brands like SEGA and Virgin.
With the expected increase in the number of
permissible games available as countries start to
allow regulated online gambling, this opportunity is
expected to substantially increase in the coming
years.