New white paper on U.S. online gambling policy

In 2002, Spectrum Gaming Group developed a theory to project how land-based gaming and online would eventually converge: The Spectrum Internet Gaming Heuristic Theorem (SIGHT). Fifteen years later, in partnership with Spectrum Gaming Capital, that theorem has been updated and summarised in a White Paper that highlights findings form the consultantcy’s ongoing analysis of the gaming industry, including:

* The entrance of land-based casinos, armed with brands and an array of licenses, is altering the face of Internet gaming, rendering nearly all past and present revenue projections obsolete.

* Public policy can be best advanced by ensuring that land-based casinos be the primary operators and/or beneficiaries of online gaming.

* In New Jersey, where Atlantic City casinos can legally operate online gaming sites, as much as 80 percent of the players are new customers who were not previously in casinos’ databases.

* Online gaming will capture a different demographic than traditional land-based casinos, including a new cohort of younger adults who can be effectively encouraged to visit land-based casinos.

* Online gaming will, for the most part, not cannibalize land-based spending. Indeed, the evidence indicates that existing land-based customers who also wager online will ultimately increase their land-based spend.

While such findings might seem counter-intuitive, they are supported by actual results and assumptions that led to Spectrum’s original SIGHT thesis:

* People are hard-wired to enjoy games of chance and take reasonable risk, regardless of age.

* People are also hard-wired to enjoy social settings and seek entertainment experiences with other adults.

The 2017 SIGHT summary is available here: http://www.spectrumgaming.com/dl/SpectrumSIGHTWhitePaperJune2017.pdf