After months of steady, double digit growth, U.S. online gambling
visits showed a marked decline in October, according to Internet usage
specialists Nielsen//NetRatings on the release of the company's latest
monthly statistical report.
Web traffic to 10 popular online gambling destinations decreased by
an average 56 percent in the month of October, the same month President
Bush signed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act into law.
This drop follows a year of fairly consistent unique audience growth
among online gambling destinations, demonstrating the profound impact
of the law signed on October 13th. However, some gambling Web sites
have yet to feel the pinch of this new legislation, and many industry
analysts speculate that there are ways to circumvent these restrictions
and continue to do good business.
The Nielsen report confirms an earlier Metrix report which found a
general 27 percent decline in traffic to online gambling sites.
Nielsen NetRatings reported on its analysis of the following sites:
Site 09/06-10/06 traffic change
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PartyPoker.com -67%
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PokerStars.com -18%
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Sportsbook.com -20%
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Bodog.com 4%
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FullTiltPoker.com 42%
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Absolute Poker 2%
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Ultimatebet.com -5%
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Casino On Net -72%
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Partypoker.net -38%
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According to Nielsen//NetRatings, 8.1 percent of US adults online
gamble on the Web, compared with 6.9 percent who gamble onsite in
a casino. Online gambling is most popular among households with lower
incomes. Those with an annual income between $25,000 and $35,000 are
over 25 percent more likely to engage in online gambling than the
average Web user. In contrast, those with an annual household income
of over $150,000 are 22 percent less likely than the average Web user
to gamble online.