Background (continued)
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Player numbers
According to a recent report by Christiansen Capital Advisors, LLC[1] , by 2004 over 15 million players will have gambling with real money online. By 2010 this number is expected to grow to just under 30 million. If claimed player registration numbers published by online casinos are anything to go by, then the above statistics from CCA may be a little on the conservative side. 888 Casino alone claims to have registered over 10 million players. Currently around a third of all players are from the U.S., although this proportion is expected to drop as take-up across Europe and Asia increases.
Industry's big players
Industry players can be divided into 2 distinct groups - the software developers, and the casino groups.
A small number of large online casino software developers supply software to a significant proportion of the online casino industry. Together, Microgaming, Wagerlogic, Boss Media, Playtech and Real Time Gaming power almost 80% of all casinos currently online.
A number of large casino groups have also emerged, in the form of companies operating a large number of successful licensee casinos (all with a different front-end look and feel) or a single large casino. Belle Rock Gaming is considered by some to be the largest casino group, operating quite a few large and well known online casinos including Lucky Nugget, The Riverbelle, The Gaming Club, . Another large casino group is the Fortune Lounge group of casinos, who operate 7 Sultans Casino , Royal Vegas , Fortune Room and a few other recognised brand casinos. Both Belle Rock Gaming and the Fortune Lounge group power their casinos with software licensed from Microgaming.
Arguably the single biggest casino (in terms of player numbers, brand exposure etc) is 888 Casino . As already noted, they claim to have had more than 7 million registered players, and are one of the internet's biggest advertisers (across all industries!). In 2001 their online advertising budget was USD 25 million.