Based out of Chineham, England, Juniper Research Limited is a forecasting and consultancy firm for digital technology markets. Its analyst team aims to deliver surveys, bespoke forecasts, and white papers concerning technological trends and market movements. In the past few years, they have noticed that an increased uptake in digital products, paired with positive regulatory changes concerning cash app online casinos and sports betting platforms, should cause a surge in online gambling bets hitting a global total of well over $1 trillion in 2022. More than the deficit added to the US national debt yearly, a significant increase from the estimated total online wagers placed in 2017 of $620 billion.
Per Juniper’s report titled eSports, Let’s Play & Watch Play: Monetisation & Engagement Strategies, old and new online casinos are the driving force behind the rise of internet bets, as they comprise around 40% of all wagers placed remotely. The American Gaming Association claims that over three thousand gambling sites are floating around the digital sphere. Most of these are internationally regulated and based in countries like Panama, Curacao, Costa Rica, and Malta. New ones seem to pop up every week, mainly due to the rise of cryptocurrency gaming. This sphere may lack gaming regulation, but it supplies fast transfer speeds, diverse game options, and anonymity.
Lauren Foye, the former Senior Analyst at Juniper that authored the cited research, now employed as the head of research at Zero Carbon Academy, believes that the infusion of new technologies drives the growth of the casino section of this market. Foye states – “New channels, kike chatbots can boost customer engagement by providing 24/7 support, and delivering personalized offers.” Increased social interaction, live-streamed entertainment, and gamification concepts should also play a massive role in increasing this industry’s player pool, which Juniper figures will double by the end of 2020 compared to 2018.
Positive Online Gambling Reform Is Occurring Globally
Before 2013, no US state allowed online gambling fun from their residents. Americans got forced to play at offshore sites that would accept them, something they have been doing since the birth of this industry in 1996. New Jersey was the first territory to allow its citizens to test their luck on games of chance at native real money casino platforms after they permitted sports betting licenses to local operators. However, the latter faced enforcement difficulties.
Today, aside from the Garden State, five more regions have legalized casino-style internet entertainment. These are West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Michigan, and Connecticut. The last two were the most recent entries to the fold. Over twenty US states permit sports betting, many of which allow mobile betting through dedicated apps and websites.
Rumors are that many more sections of the US are getting ready to implement laws that would allow various forms of betting over the internet within their borders. They are doing so because they have seen that it can offset budget shortfalls and minimize the adverse effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the impending worldwide recession crisis. This is evident in states that have allowed this hobby, as New Jersey and Michigan noted over a billion dollars in online casino revenues in 2021.
The same legalization tide is happening in Europe. In 2021 Germany and the Netherlands were two massive Old Continent regions that established internet gambling regulations and launched nationwide self-exclusion schemes. At the moment, other countries have also expressed interest in doing the same.
Global Online Gambling Revenues Rise Annually
Pune-based market research entity Fortune Business Insights, founded in 2019, recently published a report that proclaims that the worldwide sports betting, lottery, and online casino market will swell at a stellar compound annual growth rate of 11.4% until 2028. At that point, it should reach a size of $158 billion. That is a staggering jump from the $66 billion market size estimated in 2020.
Factors contributing to the sky-rocketing popularity of internet wagering are the increasing demand for smartphones, advancements in data transfer technology, and gambling becoming less taboo in all corners of the globe. Moreover, powerful US land-based gaming operators buying online UK ones will also play a role in this American and global market expansion. That is so because wealthy entities are acquiring ones that already have built the necessary infrastructure to quickly provide the chance for their purchasing companies to offer their services over the internet.
Because of this and other discussed aspects above, Technavio predicts that the US market will experience an increased growth momentum, at 12.47% per year, making the potential expansion difference of the market between 2021 and 2026 around $2 billion.