Online Gambling Skyrockets

The eMarketer report said research shows 20 million to 30 million US internet users visited gambling or sweepstakes sites in February 2005, representing about 15 to 18 per cent of all US internet users."US consumer spending on gambling is roughly 20 times the amount they spend on digital music downloads," the report noted. In Europe, the report found 14 million internet users visited gambling or sweepstake sites, with Germany having the largest number of users. As a percentage of internet users, however, France and Sweden top the list.

Macklin said TV coverage of poker tournaments, and the 2.5 million dollar win of American online player Chris Moneymaker in the 2003 World Series of Poker, gave the sector a lift."After phenomenal growth during 2003 and 2004, particularly from online poker , the online gambling sector is slowing, but that does not signal the demise of the sector," Mr Macklin said. "For as long as there is gambling, there will be online gambling, and whether it is legal or not is irrelevant."