Possible Gain in Internet Gambling, According to American Gaming Association ReportPolling Shows 4 Percent of Americans Wagered in Cyberspace in 2011 |
|
On Wednesday, the American Gaming Association — the industry’s top lobbying group — released its annual report on the state of commercial gaming in the U.S.
In the report, a survey was conducted to see what forms of gaming Americans participated in over the past year. In 2011, four percent of respondents said they placed a wager on the Internet — up from one percent in 2010.
Online poker was the target of the Department of Justice in April 2011, when the three major offshore operators at the time were accused of gambling-related crimes. Their respective businesses were shutdown in American cyberspace.
Despite depicting an increase, the AGA remains cautious with the data.
“While the State of the States polling shows a slight uptick in Internet gambling participation, I wouldn’t read too much into the data,” AGA President Frank Fahrenkopf said. “The increase is within the 3.5 percent margin of error and the survey sample is fairly small. Therefore, it is not really clear if Internet gambling participation truly has increased significantly enough to draw broad conclusions from the data.”
The AGA stands behind federal legislation to authorize Internet gaming, while some of its members are taking what they can get. A handful of Nevada-based casinos are gearing up for intrastate web poker in the Silver State.
Live poker’s popularity in brick-and-mortars went unchanged from 2010-11, as seven percent of those polled said it was their favorite game. Video poker and slot machines are the favorite type of gaming for more than half of respondents.
The report also showed that commercial casino gaming revenues increased for the second consecutive year in 2011 — reaching a total of $35.64 billion. Twenty two states operated commercial gaming last year.
Follow Brian Pempus on Twitter — @brianpempus
Copyright © 2001-2024
CardPlayer.com. All rights reserved.
