U.S Recession Impacts Gambling Industry

Chief executive of The American Gaming Association in the U.S, Frank Fahrenkopf, said that land-based casinos throughout the U.S’ gambling revenue have improved by a meagre 1.3 percent in the third quarter to $8 billion.  It’s more or less a $100 million more for the same period than the previous year.

“Most economists have underestimated the impact the current recession still has on the American economy and this year’s economic growth is slightly better than last year,” Fahrenkopf said. “Your average American consumer is spending less; this is also clearly reflected in the internet casino industry as well.”  Revenues in general have been very low throughout the year so far and we sincerely hope that 2011 will be better.

Casino operators in Asia have fared way better than their western counterpart, presently the Chinese commune of Macau is the globe’s premier casino destination, Fahrenkopf said that in terms of revenue Singapore will soon overtake Las Vegas irrespective of having less casinos.  He mentioned this at the current Global Gaming Expo which was held in Las Vegas.  The symposium lasted four days which attracted various gambling executives from all corners of the globe.

“We sincerely hope that the internet casino industry can level-out sometime and reach 2007 levels again, CEO of International Game Technology, Eric Tom said.”The economy is of such a nature now one cannot really predict when the players will return and start gambling like before”.

“It’s going to be interesting to see which internet casinos take the first leap in terms of major restructuring”, Tom continued.

Casino games that are based on movies are Batman “The Dark Knight,” “Wheel of Fortune” and “The Hangover” has been very popular and attracted a huge following.

“The million dollar question is what type of innovation needs to be done for the industry to gain its former levels.  Presently very few internet casinos are prepared to risk it and that in itself is the challenge.  I sincerely believe that whoever is prepared to risk it and push new innovative products across the gaming floor is most likely to accomplish something,” he said. “

Chief innovation officer at WMS Industries Inc. Larry Pacey, said internet casinos must ensure that they purchase the proper products and have faith in them, this in turn will make them more competitive and productive.

“They don’t have to reach into their wallet and buy more slot machines unless there’s a compelling reason,” Pacey said.

WMS is at the forefront of new internet casino gaming technology, to enable casino games that would permit multiple systems and communicate with each other is our aim for now.  New business ventures will permit WMS systems to incorporate other games sold by Konami Gaming Inc. and IGT, making it simpler for internet casinos to choose those games they like and enable them to operate in unison.