Online gambling is becoming a booming industry in Britain as the online sites are hugely cash generative in the explosive growth market, according to a new report.
The report by investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein revealed companies that operated online casino sites were also benefiting from increased traffic.
Online gambling has grown to $9.2 billion globally since 1995 and is expected to generate a 22 percent amount annual growth rate between 2003 and 2008, specifically driven by poker. The report also mentioned gamblers lost $237 billion to gaming companies worldwide last year and will be losing roughly $277 billion a year by 2008.
Sports betting accounted for almost half, or 45 percent, of total online gambling spending with other gaming representing 32 percent. However, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein emphasized poker could surpass both by 2008, if not earlier.
Analysts agree there was incredibly good growth potential coming from poker. The online poker market is worth about $1.5 billion according to Sportingbet, which recently bought Paradise Poker, the biggest provider of poker sites on the Web. According to the Gaming Board for Great Britain, which regulates UK casinos, about 4 percent of British adults have gambled online in the past two years.
