Rise of online gambling set to continue Back in the heady days of the Celtic Tiger on-course betting at Ireland’s 26 racecourses peaked at €282m in 2007. This figure was made up of over €200m from the rails bookmakers and the rest consisting of turnover from Tote and on-course betting shops. If we fast-forward to 2016 the total on-course betting revenue had plummeted to €90m. Some will claim the racecourses have become complacent due to the huge revenues they receive from Media rights and haven’t put enough effort into protecting and growing the on-course betting revenues. Racecourses earn around €50,000 per day from live streams of pictures of their races around the world. The 26 racecourses generated €52m in total revenues in 2016 of which only €2m came directly from on-course betting activity. However this fall in on-course betting turnover has little to do with the racecourses and more to do with the changing habits of the consumers/punters and is not confined to the on-course market. The number of off-course betting offices in Ireland has fallen from 1,385 in 2008 to 850 in 2016. Attendances at Ireland’s race tracks are actually holding their own year-on-year. 1.2 million people attended race meetings annually as far back as 1998 and the current figure is 1.3 million. Paddy Power alone posted revenues of €2 billion in 2016. The vast majority of this revenue now comes from online activity. The rise in smartphone technology and the betting applications that have gone hand-in-hand with it have resulted in massive increases in Global online gambling. In 2009 estimates of total online betting activity were in the region of $20 billion; by 2017 that figure had shot up to $50 billion and the numbers are projected to rise further in the coming years. With the ban on online gambling in the US about to be lifted the opportunities for betting operators seem boundless. The shift in traditional sports betting — horse racing and football - to online has been driven by the availability of live streaming of the events by the betting companies to punters who have placed bets on the events. There has been a similar move towards ‘live’ events by online Casino operators safe casinos with many now offering live casinos games such as roulette and blackjack with streaming of live tables on sites such as Casino Mr.Bet Online casino activity accounts for approximately 25% of the annual overall worldwide online gambling activity and is growing by 9% per year.
