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Business Slow at Online Casinos

Like their land-based counterparts, online casinos are experiencing the effects of the troubled United States economy. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are foundering, gas prices have almost never been higher, the real estate market has been taking a prolonged, dramatic nosedive, and Wall Street is in crisis. What does all this mean? Well, naturally, folks in America have less money to spend… and some poor folks have a LOT less. It’s hard to fritter away even a few dollars at one’s favorite online slot machine when one is having trouble paying utilities, you know?

It’s been a bad summer for the land-based casino gaming industry. Gaming destinations like Las Vegas and Atlantic City have learned a harsh truth: people just aren’t able or willing to travel to gamble. It was initially forecasted that the economy’s problems would not be felt by the gambling industry. These prognosticators were pretty much dead wrong. Slots, long the bread and butter of casino income, have been particularly affected by the situation.

The shock waves are now being felt by casino gambling sites on the World Wide Web, as well. Online slot machine parlors have experienced a crunch in both player volume and income. It seems that the turning point for the online gambling industry came in July, when many online casino execs reported double-digit losses over the same thirty-one day period last year. Overall, it is estimated that online slot revenues dropped about ten percent from July 2007.

Naturally, problems as far-reaching as those being faced by the United States economy are not going to be settled overnight. Operators of both land and online casinos have little choice but to hunker down and see if they can ride out the proverbial storm.

Back to September 2008 Archive.