Michael Pollock predicts India and Brazil will join Japan in approving new brick-and-mortar casino gambling.
The New Jersey-based research firm, Spectrum Gaming Group, released a report this week which highlighted the top 10 casino industry trends likely to occur in 2017. Spectrum Gaming tracks the online gambling industry throughout the world.
Spectrum Gaming’s study suggested the 10 most significant trends people can expect to emerge in the next calendar year. Spectrum serves both public and private interests, conducting research on a variety of gambling issues for its clients.
When he released the 2017 report, Spectrum’s Managing Director, Michael Pollock, stated, “Spectrum has a strong track record, dating back to 2004, of peering into the future, and helping our clients successfully identify opportunities. We trust that this carefully considered list will fill that role in 2017.”
Casinos in Japan, India, and Brazil
Spectrum predicted that Japan, Brazil, and India are going to add casino gambling. The issue is decided already in Japan, after the House of Councillors gave Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the votes he needed to pass the IR Bill.
India’s politicians have been seeking a carve-out for casino gambling in one province, while opponents have blasted the government’s attempts to push back a review on the casino gambling already taking place.
Brazil’s government began the process towards legalizing casinos in 2015, but that process encountered trouble when President Dilma Rousseff came under investigation for corruption. While Brazilians would like to see legal casinos, the current wave against corruption might hurt its chances.
Online Lottery Ticket Sales
The lottery industry is expected to increase online sales by a significant margin. States like Georgia, Maryland, and Illinois have sought to expand their online lottery sales in recent years. States like Georgia are expected to be key allies to opponents of Restore America’s Wire Act, because RAWA would be a challenge to online lotto vendor sites, too.
Skill Slots and eSports for Millennials
Brick-and-mortar casinos in Las Vegas are expected to set aside floorspace for millennial-targeted forms of gambling. Skill-based slot machines made their debut in 2016, but are expected to become much more widespread in 2017. If these games include a real skill element (like some early prototypes), then they could become popular with under-35 players.
Lounges and entertainment areas for betting on eSports also might be tried by the Las Vegas casinos. Watching competitive electronic sports (video games) online are popular with millennials on Twitch, so betting on those games might be popular. Rahul Sood of Unikrn recently urged Vegas casinos to give this form of sports betting a try. If the Las Vegas experiments for skill slots or eSports either one take off, expect to see expansion into casinos across the United States.
Atlantic City an Esports Hub?
Spectrum prdicts that casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas are going to stage their own eSports events in 2017. Spectrum predicts that Atlantic City will seek to become an eSports hub.
Legalized Sports Betting in 2017
Gov. Chris Christie predicted recently that sports betting would be legalized in the next year. But then, Chris Christie has made similar predictions for the last several years. Spectrum Gaming predicts the legal sports betting will get a major push in 2017.
The research group predicts the American Gaming Association (AGA) and a variety of state-level associations are going to push for legalized sportsbooks. In an age where daily fantasy sports is a accepted and regulated, most experts feel it is only a matter of time before land-based sportsbooks are legal in America. In time, online sports betting might be accepted.
2017 Macau Casino Sector Growth
Spectrum Gaming predicted that Macau’s casino revenues would grow in 2017, reversing a three-year trend. In this new growth era, the Chinese mass market will dominate. VIP play is expected to decline less than it has in the recent past.
This is a spotty prediction. Chinese officials continue to crack down on gambling advertisements, while the ATM machine payments by UnionPay have been halved in size. Making the Chinese market more predictable is the rumors of a coming recession in China, as well as the spector of a negative resent by Donald Trump in America-China relations. While both countries would face the economic impact, it is never good for the economic picture when the world’s two largest economies quarrel.
4 Casino Industry Trends for 2017
Four other trends were highlighted by Spectrum Gaming Group. These included the private ownership of lotteries in the United States and abroad; state legislatures will face pressures to lower gambling tax rates and ease regulations to help their local industries; legalization efforts in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana will continue apace; states will seek new revenues by legalization retail gaming in airports, satellite casinos, and liquor-licensed establishments.
Those are the yearly predictions from a respected source. Legal US Poker Sites is preparing its list of predictions for the online gambling industry in 2017. While the list above is likely to have some overlap with the iGaming list, ours is likely to be much different.
