The European iGaming industry shows no sign of struggle as Japan and the US were badly hit by a natural disaster and Black Friday. eGaming Review reports that the 4.4% global growth projected by H2 Gambling Capital is the lowest annual growth since their records began back in 1998. The company this morning commented, “Black Friday (and subsequent actions) occurring in the US that have decimated the scale of the Internet poker industry in that market. At this stage we have calculated that the impact will equate to as much as €765m of lost market value this year and a further €100m loss next.”
After the results season, the company revised its original estimate of iGaming’s gross win forecasts for 2011 to €23.76bn down from €25bn representing a figure of 10.2% year-on-year. Figures in the Far East always had a contribution after the tragic Japanese earthquake had a detrimental effect on the Japanese Racing Association. Their business is expected to have dropped by as much as 13% year-on-year in the current year.
Excluding the US and Japan though, the outlook is a whole lot better. Forecasts show that the projected growth will be 12% y-o-y. They include the expected launch of cash poker and casino in Italy and regulation in Greece, Belgium and Spain. It’s like you were drinking the cheap freebie beers and they were then replaced with premium ales. The events that recently occurred in Germany have also had little effect and it goes to show the minuscule impact that Black Friday is having on the European market.
