Share This Article
The Italian Gaming Authority has now published the data relating to the Italian online gaming market up to May 2011.
The data show a reduction of in the turnover generated by online sportsbetting games of 2.7% compared to the same month of last year which might be due to the end of the Italian football championship and the lack of interest on the last matches.
But what raises more concerns is the reduction in the turnover (equal to € 247,803,388) generated by skill game + poker tournament games of 12.7 % compared to May 2010. It is difficult to understand the reason of such reduction, however a possible explanation might be that operators are postponing their main advertising campaigns waiting for the launch of casino and cash poker games expected to occur on the 18th of July 2011.
Indeed, according to analysts, these new games will double the current turnover of the Italian gaming market and, given the considerable investments that operators borne for the launch of such games, it might be reasonable that their major marketing efforts will be focused on such new games.
Also, current operators are hoping to get as many players as possible before new entrants in the market get their licence and therefore the timing of the launch of these games is crucial for them.
Finally the negative data referred above are partially balanced by surprising positive data relating to bingo games that show an increase 99.7% compared to the first 5 months of 2010. Indeed, bingo games that initially were mainly side games are becoming more and more popular in Italy also because they recall Italian traditional games and might even become more popular if regulations on new bingo variations will be passed.
Do you want to discuss the above? Feel free to contact me, Giulio Coraggio.
(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)
