Mar
28
A survey, undertaken on behalf of KPMG by online polling organisation You Gov, shows just 3% of the UK population remain who have not yet tried online casino games but would be prepared to do so.
Fourteen percent of the UK population has tried online casinos at some point, compared to 16% who have been to a land based casino, claims the survey. However, a further 19% say they would be prepared to visit a land based casino, leaving much more scope for them to grow compared to the online casino businesses.
Mark Summerfield, Head of Travel, Leisure and Tourism at KPMG, said: "Our survey supports the view, rather than being a nation of gamblers, there is a limit to the number of people who are interested in gambling, whether online or in a bricks and mortar casino. However, while the land based casinos seem to have plenty of potential customers still out there; the pool of untapped online players seems to be declining."
"With 14% of the public already playing online, the further 3% who remain up for grabs would still represent 20% growth across the industry if every one of them was converted. That sort of growth rate is not to be dismissed but is noticeably less than the opportunity the land based casinos still have to play for."
"With organic growth potential limited, the online casino sector is likely therefore to see a period of consolidation. This trend is exacerbated by the successful Stock Market listings of 888.com and Party Gaming, they make it difficult for similar businesses to access the capital markets."
When asked whether they would be more likely to visit a casino if it was part of a larger leisure and retail complex - i.e. a so called "super casino" - only 21% said they would be more likely to visit with 69% claiming it would make no difference to them whatsoever just as well given Gordon Browns decision to rule out this kind of Casino.
There are also few signs that we are about to see an upsurge in gambling with casinos on every high street. When asked what factors stop people going to a casino more often - or going at all - 36% claimed it was the fear of losing too much money while a further 18% cited a lack of knowledge of the games played in casinos. In addition, the mean gambling spend per person, over the course of twelve months, was £114. That figure rises to £168 amongst those people who do visit UK casinos but is still not an enormous figure.
The majority of gambling spend can be attributed to a small percentage of gamblers; the 5% who spend between £500 and £1000 per year and the 3% who spend over £1000.
Mark Summerfield continued: "Much has been written about the potential impact of a large number of regional casinos but these statistics suggest we are hardly likely to become a nation of committed gamblers as too many factors remain which make people reticent about visiting any sort of casino at all. In addition, two-thirds of our survey's respondents were unaware of the change to the law regarding casino membership, making them unlikely to simply turn up at a casino on impulse on a night out for example. All of this makes those final few untapped gamblers incredibly valuable, with all interested parties doing their utmost to hoover up as many of them as possible, but gives lie to recent claims that we would shortly see 1,000 casinos throughout the UK."
Other survey findings included:
Poker remains the big draw for on-line players.
Almost half of on-line players have played poker online while just 11% of land based casino players have played the game.
Of the small number who had played poker in both types of casino, the vast majority played in the land based casinos first before migrating online.
Men account for the majority of UK gamblers but women are not far behind.
Fourteen percent of women have visited a land based casino while 10% have gambled online.
