The land-based casino industry has been slow to embrace the internet but does it have anything to fear? Gaming Intelligence studies the available evidence.
The US casino industry is about to be hit with a new technology that it does not fully trust. It is not the first industry to fear the arrival of the internet. However, unlike most other industries it has not been hijacked by it.
American casino operators have had the best part of a decade to get used to the threat of online gaming. The industry survived the first pre-UIGEA blast of the internet in a more resilient manner than either the music industry or the media industry managed when confronted with this new technology.
Unlike either the music industry or the media industry, it is not faced by a strange beast that threatens to turn its entire business model upside down. Online gaming is no different to offline gambling. It replicates land-based casino gaming and its business model almost exactly. In fact, most would claim it adds little to the customer’s experience bar convenience and relative anonymity (if desired). It can, however, add a whole new marketing channel and new revenue stream for operators.
However, instead of embracing this new technology, the land-based industry continues to fight the onset of online gaming by championing legislation that either prohibits it or restricts it (to poker, for example).
