Online Gambling Turnover

admin 7/23/2022

When it comes to online gambling and demographic statistics, a UK study concludes that 17% of the population gamble online, resulting in £5.3 billion revenue for the online market alone. As revealed by him, a new tax on online gambling turnover is to be imposed by the country’s authorities rather than revenue. The new piece of legislation states that so-called POGOs will now become subject to a special franchise tax of 5% on their gross bets or turnovers, or the agreed pre-determined minimum revenues on a monthly basis that.

We’re now in mid-August, and many of the country’s top gambling venues remain shut down. Many felt that casinos would only remain closed for a few weeks. As time goes on, however, more people recognize how difficult it is to reopen casinos right now. Interestingly, US online gambling revenue is surging thus far in 2020.

States are beginning to take notice of this revenue jump. It’s likely that more state leaders will begin looking into the legalization of this industry soon.

Today, we’re going to look at how much online gaming revenue jumped already this year.

Many Casinos Remain Closed Around the Country

For the past few years, the US casino industry has been growing steadily. Major gambling destinations such as Las Vegas and Atlantic City saw their tourism rates surge. Several massive new casino-resorts were being constructed around the country and some felt we’d entered into a new golden age for the gambling industry.

Things came to a screeching halt in March. At that time, health officials began warning that crowded venues would be prime locations for the new coronavirus to spread. State leaders around the country immediately called for the closure of all casinos.

Some parts of the US were hit harder due to these regulations than others. Places like Las Vegas, for example, took an immediate blow. This city relies heavily on its tourism and gambling industry. An incredible number of jobs were immediately lost due to the casinos shutdowns.

To make matters worse, no one knew when these regulations would be lifted. Casino companies immediately began coming up with plans to safely reopen. It wasn’t until June that casinos in Las Vegas were given permission to start accepting guests again.

Even today, many states are prohibiting their commercial casinos from reopening. Over in New York, a large rally is being held this week to protest these regulations. It’s still unclear when all of the country’s gaming venues will be allowed to reopen. Many will likely be forced to permanently close their doors.

The longer land-based casinos remain closed, the more popular online casino gambling becomes. Reports have just surfaced that show how much revenue the country’s regulated online casino industry is generating right now.

Here’s How Much US Online Gambling Revenue Already Increased in 2020

Online gambling has always been popular in the US. In recent years, several states have chosen to officially regulate and tax this industry. These states are now earning a massive amount of revenue from this industry.

It’s now becoming clear how much money the US online casino and poker industry is earning. This week, the American Gambling Association released a report showing the jump in earnings. The report claims US online gambling revenue tripled in 2020’s second quarter when compared to 2019.

The online poker and casino industry managed to bring in an incredible $402 million through April, May, and June. It’s the largest revenue increase ever recorded. Land-based casinos, unfortunately, saw their revenue dip by more than 80% in 2020’s second quarter.

Casey Clark, a vice president at the American Gaming Association, spoke with Business Insider about this massive revenue increase this week.

“Consumers like convenience,” Clark said. “There was very little competition from brick-and-mortar casinos in the second quarter.”

This trend probably won’t slow down anytime soon. More states are likely to begin looking into the regulations of this industry soon. Casino companies across the country may begin focusing more on their online operations, as well.

Online Gambling Turnover Calculator

Sports betting is growing more popular now, as well. This industry is also becoming highly profitable for many different states around the country.

Online Sports Betting Revenue Continues to Surge

The land-based casino industry in the US wasn’t the only one to be affected by the regulations being set around the country. The professional sports industry was hit extremely hard, as well. All major sports leagues around the country were forced to shut down in March and many have only recently begun to operate again.

Some leagues saw the situation as an opportunity. The UFC became the first league to come back and is now more popular than ever before. Today, the MLS, MLB, and NBA are all holding their seasons, albeit with significant changes set in place.

Online sports betting is now extremely popular around the country. More than 20 states around the country have officially legalized and regulated this industry. Many more are likely to do so over the next few years.

Casino companies around the country saw their second-quarter revenue earnings drop sharply. It’s clear that US online gambling revenue is increasing right now and more of these companies are taking notice. We’ll likely see a major push to regulate internet casino gambling in more states around the country soon.

It’s an extremely unusual time for the gambling industry. Things are changing fast and no one really knows how things will look by the time 2021 rolls around. Make sure to stay tuned for more updates on the country’s casino industry over the next few weeks.

Are you surprised to see how much online gambling revenue has increased? Let us know in the comments section below!

The Growth of the Gaming Industry

According to Newzoo's Global Games Market Report, Gamers will spend about $137.9 billion this past year on games. They are expected to spend about $151.9 billion in 2019. If you look at previous years' gaming revenue, you will notice a trend:

It's important to note that online gaming is an incredibly complex topic to analyze, given not only the myriad of factors involved but the constantly changing nature of the market. Statistics from just a year ago can only tell a partial story, and consumer demands can turn on a dime. All of this being noted, the one constant is rapid growth other industries only dream of.

Increasing Player Bases, Revenues, and Investments

Gaming, much like other forms of entertainment, has become a huge industry. Here are a few statistics and fact to show you how far it's come since the days of the Atari and the NES:

Newzoo's 2018 predicts that by 2021 consumer spending on games will be about $180 billion, climbing at a steady rate over the years.
Filmora indicates that there are currently 2.341 billion gamers worldwide in 2018 and that by 2021 that number will rise to 2.725 billion.
As of September 2018, the game Pokémon Go alone has generated $2 billion in revenue.
Even going so far back as 2016, the revenues for video games surpassed those of the music and film industries combined.
While most developers won't release budgets for modern games, the combined development and marketing costs of Grand Theft Auto 5 (released in 2013) totaled to about $265 million. Only the very largest films of all time (including their marketing costs) top that cost.
The ESA reports that there are 2,711 video game company locations in the USA, and that there are about 65,678 people currently working for publishers or developers.

What Platforms Are Games Being Developed For?

According to information obtained ahead of the 2019 Games Developers' Conference, here is a rough divide on which platforms were being developed for alongside a few notes for each platform:

PC computers: 66 percent

Nearly anyone can create a PC game. With a few tools and bought assets, you could likely develop a low-quality PC game by yourself in a manner of weeks.
There are no licensing fees for PC and no devkits to buy.
The market is potentially the largest, and the PC game scene is the most mod-heavy (mods are fan-made patches which provide new assets or functionality to a game) and many gamers prefer to use a more precise mouse a keyboard to play their game of choice.
Regarding online gaming, PC is the easiest platform to have online play for.

Smartphones and Tablet Devices: 38 percent

Mobile gaming has a strong hold on the total market (even more on that later), and generates a massive amount of income for gaming companies.
Smartphone and tablet devices generally have the same games available to them based on the OS for the devices, either Android or the latest iOS.

PS4 Consoles: 31 percent

As of March 2018, there were 34.2 million Playstation Plus (Playstation's online gaming service) subscribers.
It should be noted that many of the popular games for consoles are single-player experiences, especially when compared to mobile devices.

Xbox One Consoles: 28 percent

For most purposes nearly the same as the PS4, with the exception of some games exclusively produced for the PS4.
There are very few exclusives for the console, but the online gaming base via Xbox Live has historically been very strong, with about 59 million active users.

Mac Computers: 20 percent

Mac Exclusive games are nearly unheard of in the industry. Nearly every release is also available for the PC.

Nintendo Switch: 18 percent

It should be heavily noted that this percentage is likely to increase heavily due to the success of the Nintendo Switch. Many developers expressed interest in the console for the future.
Due to Nintendo's efforts, practices, and standards, there generally are fewer games allowed to be developed for the Switch.
Nintendo's online service is currently too new to have concrete statistics on the number of users.

VR Headsets: 17 percent

This number means the number of games that are not only developed exclusively for VR, but also games that have some form of VR support.
VR is a growing, if small, market. According to statistics by Valve, about 0.7 percent of Steam users have a VR headset connected to their PC.

Web Browsers: 13 percent

Many web browser games are simple browser versions or ports of mobile games.
Many more, depending on what counted according to the poll, might be flash games that are more training or experiment than a product.

AR Headsets: 7 percent

Many of these selections are experimental and not a large part of the overall gaming market. What will be interesting to the greater gaming industry is how popular AR devices and games become in the coming years.
Given the profitability of titles like Pokémon Go, many developers (20 percent) are interested in exploring AR technology in some form or another in the future.

It should also be noted that a game can be and very often is developed for more than one platform at once, hence the percentages totaling far more than 100.

Additionally, it should be noted that just because a game is developed doesn't mean a game is popular. While we would love to have more sales data that can provide a greater background of the industry, many developers and companies like to keep their sales numbers under wraps to keep an edge up over the competition.

Gamers by Platform

According to the ESA 2018 Sales, Demographic, and Usage Data release, US households play games on the following platforms:

Differences by Region in Gaming

You might consider gaming in the Western context, but you should know that gamers are in countries all around the world, and the USA isn't even the top creator of game revenue. According to Filmora, the top 10 countries are as follows:

China is the greatest outlier here because many games that do well in America do not necessarily do so well in China. As mentioned earlier, this is due to the fact that China's gaming market is heavily focused on mobile revenues and microtransactions. Despite blocks on some games, in 2016 mobile games were responsible for more than 50 percent of all digital gaming revenue, and the trend has only risen from there. Newzoo suspects that by 2021 mobile revenue will make up a shocking 70 percent of gaming revenue in the country.

Japan, while the third largest market, spends the most money per person on games according to Newzoo (1.5 times the average North American gamer). The market grows about 15 percent each year and this comes as no surprise given the number of Japanese developers and publishers that have heavy footholds in the industry (recall that both Nintendo and Sony are Japanese companies).

The main other consideration to note is that the cost of gaming is often more expensive in Western countries outside of the US, so European countries might not have such a strong gaming culture or as large of a player base.

The Average Gamer of Today

While you might think of the average gamer as a younger male, you might be surprised to learn about some of these statistics regarding gamer demographics:

The average gamer is 34 years old. The average male gamer is 32, and the average female gamer is 36. Younger gamers might dedicate significantly more time to the hobby as they have more time, but the market is skewing towards middle age as more people are growing up with games in their life.
45 percent of gamers are women, although it should be noted that the games men and women play vary. According to Newzoo, on the PC men preferred as their favorite genre shooter (41 percent), strategy (40 percent), and action/adventure (35 percent) games in that order. Women preferred action/adventure (36 percent), strategy (35 percent), and simulation (31 percent) games. The general trend shows itself across all platforms.
Newzoo also notes that while the percentages of 'core gamers' (according to them gamers who play a game more than 5 days a week) are similar along gender lines, men are across the board more likely to pay for games.
As far as self-reported core gamers, those who say gaming is an important part of their life, 70 percent are men.

The Direct Impact of Online Play

According to the ESA data, 50 percent of gamers consider online play capability a factor into their purchasing decision. This was the fifth most common factor, with graphics, price, story, and game series being the first four.
The same data notes that 56 percent of the most frequent gamers will play multiplayer games with other online an average of 7 hours a week.
Of frequent gamers, 55 percent say that video games help them stay close with and connect to friends.
Esports is also making a notable mark on the industry, with NewZoo noting that in 2017 22 percent of US male millennials watched esports. The $30-60 million price tag on an Overwatch League team slot also demonstrates the investments companies and individuals are willing to make on esports.

The Rise of Mobile Gaming

According to Newzoo's report, in 2018 mobile games will generate 51 percent of revenue for the industry, or about $70.3 billion. They suspect that by 2021 that number will top $100 billion, especially as more people adopt smartphones and more advanced smartphones (which better graphics processing) come to market. This would be unheard of five or even a few years ago, even to those who knew that the market was climbing rapidly.

While tablet games make up $13.9 billion of that $70.3 billion made in 2018, smartphone gaming revenue totaled 56.4 billion, making it the clear winner for the future.
Mobile gaming grew 25.1 percent in 2018 compared to the previous year.

The Fortnite Effect

You've probably heard of Fortnite, and it's one of the few games that's universally caught on with kids for a few reasons. We would like you to consider these statistics in the scope of the larger market and would also like you to see it as an example rather than something special in itself. There will be other Fortnites, but these trends will repeat themselves:

LendEDU performed a survey that found that 68.8 percent of Fortnite players have spent money on in-game purchases.
Of those spenders, the average amount spent was $84.67.
For nearly 37 percent of those spenders, this was the very first time they have made an in-game purchase.
The poll found that the average player spends six to 10 hours a week playing the game.
LendEDU also found that out of students who played the game, 35 percent have skipped class to do so. Also, 20.5 percent of workers surveyed have skipped work to play it.
According to Bloomberg and Gamesindustry.biz, as of November 2018, the player base totals about 200 million, and it's only been growing since. To put it into perspective, the user base of Fortnite is likely larger than the population of all but four countries.
According to Verto Watch, 62.7 percent of players are between the ages of 18-24. What we can take away from this stat is that the Fortnite audience skews very young compared to the greater gaming population.
The Verto Watch results also note that 72.4 percent of players are male, and 27.6 percent female. Given the popularity of shooters among males, this comes as no surprise.

It's noteworthy that Fortnite is a free-to-play game, albeit a high budget one. A nearly 70 percent conversion rate is absurd compared to the industry average of about 5 percent. And compared to the 'whale' model in which in most games where one percent of players spend by far the greatest amount of money on the game, Fortnite has a bit more even distribution.

The main takeaway we can expect from this is that game developers and publishers are going to try and emulate the features and successes of the titan in hopes of getting some of that market share, much like how the MMO market flooded with clones after the runaway success that was World of Warcraft.

Conclusion

More than most industries, online gaming is a market that can turn in a matter of months or even weeks, as gamers seek to find the hot new game or developer changes drive customers away towards newer markets and products. Overall, we generally ask that you don't consider the ups and downs of games and publishers individually but the industry as a whole. That will be the only way to truly understand where online gaming is headed beyond the next year and know what you can be exited and concerned about.

We also ask that if you game yourself or if you have family members that play video games, you consider their habits and health with gaming as well. The stats and details on gaming addiction aren't in yet (whether it exists is still up for debate), but some of these stats can be alarming and you should protect yourself and your family from potentially predatory practices that may be occurring or will occur.

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We hope that you have all the information you need now, and we encourage you to share this post or ask questions if you want to know more.