Coming off of several years of fairly robust growth, global gaming revenues are expected increase by about 1 percent next year according to predictions by Global Betting and Gaming Consultants (GBGC).
Last year gaming revenues reached $452 billion, 3.2 percent higher than the year before. Asia accounted for about a third of that revenue. GBGC calls China, Macau and Hong Kong the “key trio,” providing 18 percent of the world total.
A predicted decline in Asia’s gaming revenue is expected to slow down the aggregate. This is expected to be a temporary blip, and growth in world gaming revenues is expected to increase 4.1 percent the following year.
GBGC’s report covers casino gaming, sports betting, gaming machines, bingo and lotteries, and online versions of the same.
The report notes that China’s gaming revenue is based on the welfare lottery and sports lottery and is growing at a rapid pace, 23.6 percent higher in 2014 than the year before. That rate is expected to falter, says the report because the central government has halted sales of lottery tickets in order to impose tighter regulations due to problems with graft and corruption.
This crack down is also affecting Macau.
Internet gaming accounted for about 9.1 percent of the total global gaming revenues, said the GBGC report.
