The Western European and the US online gaming and gambling markets will be worth $4.9bn by 2004, a colossal 5,975% advance on today’s annual market of $82m. The figures point to online gaming’s emergence as a mainstream entertainment medium according to Datamonitor, whose new report Online Games and Gambling in Europe and the US was released this week. Like all other facets of e-commerce, online gaming is set to prosper on the back of increased internet penetration, faster access speeds and cheaper online costs, says the report. It also says that the US will deliver the lion’s share of new revenue, and will constitute a $2.8bn market by 2004, while Western Europe will generate revenue of $2.1bn.
