Glad everyone survived last week's market turbulence!
Jose – thanks for the synopsis on the radio interview! I couldn't receive it myself. Skinner's comments do appear to conflict with some of the information which CFG provided me. However, assuming visitors “leave” more money on the virtual casino tables than they take back, I am not convinced that Skinner's reported front loaded 5% story is any worse than that which I was told.
Regarding the “gambling-transaction fee,” I too would like more information. However, from what I have read elsewhere, house margins for on-line casinos are much higher than for traditional casinos. Assuming that WINR is also providing the internal financial services for the casino as well as customer cash deposit / withdrawal service, the 1-2% transaction charge seems, imo, realistic until, perhaps, the casinos and/or WINR achieve significant economies of scale in operations.
On 1,500 registered clients: Kevin mentioned to me that one of the strengths of AiB is that it already has a large customer base relative to the TISS sites. Therefore, it seems like it would take some time for AiB clients to re-register with the WINR system as they gradually return. Obviously, Skinner would be loath to report these AiB clients as registered with WINR until they have actually done so. In any case, AiB had only been up and running with WINR for two weeks at the time of the Skinner interview…...and as Gary previously suggested, who knows if Skinner was even including AiB in his figure?
Additional food for thought…..
While development of internet gambling in US appears to be undermined by current legislative uncertainty…....article below…suggests that growth of internet gambling in Europe is “not” being delayed, and is expected to reach $3 billion by 2002. Overall...a $500 million industry in 1998...forecast to turn into a...$2,300 million industry by 2000...?!!...I certainly wouldn't want to miss that!!
WINR appears to have a very strong position in Europe owing to its banking ties with leading Liechtenstein and German banks and multi-language capabilities….
Online gambling a $10B industry
By Reuters, June 16, 1998
More than $10 billion will be gambled online by 2002 as operators take advantage of the huge audience reach and cost savings of the Internet, market analyst Datamonitor said Tuesday. Casinos, lotteries and sports books dominate the new market, allowing customers with an Internet connection and a credit card to gamble literally anywhere in the world," Datamonitor said. Online gambling revenues in 1998 are expected to be $535 million, rising to $955 million in 1999 and $2.3 billion by 2000.
The Godzilla of interactive services?
"Online gambling turnovers have the potential to dwarf those of other interactive services, tapping into an existing traditional gambling market valued at over $700 billion in Europe and the U.S. alone," Datamonitor said. Datamonitor said concerns about the legality of gambling online in the United States would help Europe gain market share and drive up its revenues to $3 billion by 2002. The majority of online gamblers are U.S. citizens, but most services are operating from places such as the Caribbean, Europe, Australia and South Africa.
zdnet.com
Scotty
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