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KEY STATISTICS
H 2 O N S H O R E D ATA J U N E
Internet poker: June's Euro 2012 and the proliferation of platforms makes a tough month tougher
June is typically the low point for internet poker with the longest days of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. This year the continued ?at line in internet poker growth, Euro 2012 and the proliferation of platforms has compounded the situation. There are now approaching 60 pools of poker liquidity with the dot.es platforms coming online and a handful of small start-ups. However, the top 10 platforms continue to account for approximately 70% of activity. The news that the leading European regulators met in early July to discuss pooling liquidity should come as a relief to several operators, many of whom are eyeing the US market where, at least in the short term, it looks as
AVERAGE REAL MONEY PLAYER NUMBERS
Ring games & tournaments
New EU frontiers
Between them, Belgium, Bulgaria and Greece only account for 3.8% of the EU’s total gambling spend compared to the 75% that is in the hands of the ‘Big 5” Member States. In terms of rankings, 2011 saw the Greek market slip further down to the eighth largest in Europe (until the ?nancial crisis the nation had occupied sixth spot ahead of the Netherlands and Sweden), Belgium was ranked 16th and Bulgaria 23rd. In terms of average loss per adult, Greece was ranked ahead of the European average but still only in 13th place, with Belgium at 22nd and Bulgaria at 24th. The Belgium onshore interactive market is up and running with taxes of 11% GPT for casino, poker and sports betting and a 3% turnover tax for horserace betting (?xed odds and pari mutual). Interactive licences, however, are limited to land-based licensees, and with no more of these available for gaming it appears that Belgium could become the next key battleground for specialist interactive gaming companies that have been blacklisted. This is particularly the case if the EC takes an interest in the market as it is expected to. Bwin. party’s blacklisting and ensuing appeal defeat to be removed from the list will no doubt lead to another Court of Justice of the European Union (EUROPA) case in the next couple of years or so. Under the current schemes that have been passed, H2 expects that the three nations will generate a combined interactive gross win of €518m by 2015 with more than 80% of this taking place within national schemes. This will, at the time, account for 4% of the value of the EU interactive market, which although all our analysis has been conducted on a bottom-up basis, is in line with the existing combined share of the three member states’ current share of EU gambling revenues. It should be noted that H2 is conservative in its onshore-regulated forecasts as current economic headwinds and low take-ups, especially where schemes are unattractive (limited products/variations, high taxes – especially those based on
Following on from eGaming Review’s cover story on the third wave of European countries to regulate, H2 takes an in-depth look at three planned regulated EU onshore interactive gambling markets; Belgium, Bulgaria and Greece
115,200
96,800
88,100
though poker will be offered on a stateby-state basis. Internet poker average real money player volumes were sequentially behind by 8.3% in June (total activity was down month-over-month by more than 11% once May’s additional day was taken into account). H2 had predicted a fall of 7.7% in last month’s issue of eGR. Last year, average volumes fell by 6.8%. As at the end of June 2012, H2’s Internet Poker Volume Index (H2VI) stood at 2,886, almost 19% behind the level at the end of June. It appears, however, that Saturday 30 June was an exceptionally low day, with Friday 29 June providing a better benchmark at 3,420 3.9% on the end of May ?gure. Going forward, H2 expects internet poker volumes to fall by as much as a further 5% over Q3 before returning to growth in Q4.
JUNE 12 JUNE 11 JUNE 10
€310m €224m €213m
GROSS GAMING YIELD: REAL MONEY INTERNET POKER (€M)
Ring games & tournaments, including bonuses, ring games/tournaments & all dot.com and dot.country sites)
D OT.CO M I N T ER N ET PO KER KPIS
CASH GAME PLAYERS BY STAKE
May 2012 TOURNAMENT PLAYERS BY BUY-IN
HIGH
MEDIUM
1.2% 7.6% 20.7%
LOW
5.6% 7.2%
MICRO
70.5%
16.5% 70.6%
€10.76
RING GAME AVERAGE POT SIZE
€2.08
AVERAGE TOURNAMENT BUY-IN
All sources: H2 Gambling Capital July 2012 – (NB. Constant Exchange Rates used – 1.4519 USD:€) – Updated each quarter
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