Great future for U.S. online gambling, says consultant

Online gaming in the United States will generate approximately $8.5 billion in revenue within five years, while New Jersey casinos will initially reap approximately $400 million in incremental revenue from online wagering.

And up to 18 US states could introduce online gambling over the next six years.

These are some of the findings from research conducted by gaming consultants Spectrum Gaming Capital. The firm presented its research on the impact of US internet gaming to a group of institutional investors and Wall St. analysts at a breakfast meeting at Le in New York City on September 17.

“We believe internet gaming will be additive to the land-based market and will have minimal cannibalistic impact so long as the regulatory authorities pass legislation and regulation that encourages synergy between land based and internet gaming,” said Robert Heller, CEO of Spectrum Gaming Capital.

“The demographic of the typical land-based gaming customer is different than that of the internet gaming customer, so the potential is there to increase the overall market. If the websites are connected to the established casino operators, then they will market in a complementary fashion that seeks to identify new players and provide them incentive to visit the casinos.

“This is good public policy because casinos create jobs, capital spending, promote tourism, provide social interaction and attract more affluent customers who can better afford to pay for the entertainment experience.”

Heller said that his company’s extensive research indicated the potential of around 18 states rolling out iGaming over the next six years, including California, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, Maryland, Florida, Ohio and Michigan over the next three years.

“We forecast approximately $8.5 billion in iGaming revenues in 2019 from those 18 states. We also estimate conservatively that New Jersey will generate around $350 million in iGaming revenues initially and an extra $50 million in win to the land-based casinos from new iGaming customers.

“Also, we expect the New Jersey casinos to generate an additional $10-15 million in profit from the operation of the iGaming sites that are not branded with the casino names, in addition to about $15-20 million in profits they will generate from operation of the casino branded iGaming sites.”

The full report is available on email request from info@spectrumgamingcapital.com.