Analysts give internet gambling a favourable report
News on 12 Feb 2009
News on 12 Feb 2009
The respected professional business services and analyst company Ernst and Young had encouraging news for the online gambling industry this week – it could be one of the economic sectors that comes out of the global economic recession stronger and more resilient than ever.
Ernst & Young has tipped online gaming to be one of the sub-sectors of the leisure industry that will come out of the current recession as a possible winner.
In its report “All bets off for recession” Ernst and Young considered the future potential of traditional and mainly land-based gambling, coming to the conclusion that fortunes would be mixed during the coming hard times. The sector was likely to mirror the declining trend in consumer spending, making for troubled times, bearing in mind the liklihood that consumer spend will probably not start to recover until late 2009.
But when it came to Internet gambling, E&Y opined that the industry’s ability to access the international market would be an important advantage, with the recessionary trend counterbalanced by the fact that the industry could still be said to be in its growth phase.
In addition, a propensity by gamblers to stay at home due to economic hardship, and frugally play small stakes for entertainment would also assist the sector to better survive, whilst the pastime’s appeal to the younger generations unburdened by property and share price decreases in personal wealth could also have a beneficial influence.
With online operators continuing to invest and recent results indicating that the sector had so far apparently weathered the credit crisis, Cameron Cartmell, head of hospitality and leisure at Ernst & Young, commented: “The online gaming industry is likely to do better than other gaming sub-sectors as it is not solely reliant on the state of the UK economy, it is still going through a growth phase and with consumers saving money by staying at home I believe it will be a winner.”
For those companies that survive the recession, there will be better opportunities as leaner and fitter organisations well prepared to take advantage of the trend toward liberated markets.
