On April 27, 2007, one of the most colorful and riveting statistical reports made by the research company iReach was published in Ireland's Silicon Republic. The research states that online gambling currently has a following of 40 million customers all over the world and that number will quadruple by the year 2020.
Ara Cho, a businessman from iReach, commented that the advent of new technologies has certainly helped the market, both in online gambling and gaming websites now assisted by broadband internet, WAP capable gadgets and even interactive gaming on television. iReach estimates that around 340,000 Irish players usually play online, making the possibility of earning a lot of profit from customers in the region.
Ireland based wagering companies like Paddy Power have done well last year as they achieved a 44% turnover in online gambling. Section 33 in the Betting Act of 1931 states that it is prohibited under Irish law for a resident of the country to place a wager outside of the country using an operating agent, but this law is impossible to implement, according to iReach. Neil Brennan from iReach commented that around 4.5% of mobile phone users from all over the world use their phones for mobile gambling.
Although the mobile gambling industry in Ireland is not as big as the markets in other countries, it will grow steadily as operators begin using software with Java applets so that their users can place wagers on their mobile phones. Juniper Research predicted that by the year 2011, profits from the mobile industry will edge out the profits that are produced from the music downloading market.
May 06, 2007
Nancy Parker