Never before in history, have people had so varied opportunities to gamble. Currently most of the countries offer a wide range of legal gambling opportunities, such as casinos, lotteries, video lottery terminals, on-track horse wagering, off-track wagering, bingo or pull-tabs. To be successful, online gambling must compete against these traditional forms of gambling. Nevertheless, online gambling websites offer a huge number of advantages if compared to offline form of gambling. Internet casino and sports wagering offer the most promising features to gambling lovers. The main is accessibility. Online casinos provide more immediate gratification. Gamblers do not have to leave their homes to wager. The strength of this advantage depends on the accessibility of traditional casinos to the prospective home user. The advantage is obviously greater in those areas where a person cannot gamble in a nearby casino.
Accessibility and the convenience of use condition the rising popularity of online casinos. The last decades show that online gambling market grows at a high pace. Statistics shows that over 51% of the world population engages in some form of gambling, which means that this online market niche is really huge.
During the past years online Internet casinos and online wagering websites have become extremely popular and this tendency continues this upward trend. A study carried out by one of the most reputable market advisors Marco Felice Baranzelli has proved that online casino business keeps growing very fast, cosmic profits. Baranzelli states that the worldwide igaming market’s total gaming yield for 2008 hit $ 328.5 billion, maximum of US$ 309.6 billion in 2007.
The increase in the number of online gamers continues to grow, keeping in line with the rapid escalation of people accessing the Internet. A March 2000 study of close to 30,000 Internet users by the Angus Reid Group estimates the United States represents only 39% of the estimated 275 million Internet users worldwide. By the end of 2001, approximately 52 million people globally wagered over $3 billion on Internet gaming. On average, the casinos keep about 75% of the money deposited.
Research shows that online gaming was expected to exceed $8 billion in revenue by 2002. Datamonitor predicted online gaming worth was $6.5 billion in 2002, reaching $8.25 billion in 2003 and $11 billion in 2004. It is expected to reach $125 billion by 2015.