£500m Bumper UK Online Betting Bonanza Forecast for World Cup

May 17, 2010
by Simon Whittick

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, May 17, 2010 – Online gaming experts, Latitude Digital Marketing are predicting £500m will be gambled online during the World Cup this summer, with a 700% increase in online search query volumes from four years ago.

Since the last World Cup in Germany in 2006, the emergence of ‘laptop loungers’ – people who consume the internet on a laptop whilst watching TV – means the tournament offers a huge opportunity for the online and mobile Sportsbook market.

Google’s decision to allow paid for gambling adverts (PPC) on its search engine has alongside existing SEO and Display advertising campaigns, helped displace high street bookmakers as the sole betting medium for England fans. With 50% of all bets for this World Cup predicted to be online compared to the normal 15% penetration of the sportsbook market via the internet.

Revealing that significant numbers of novice internet punters are set to back Capello’s men, Latitude supports a recent poll that found seven percent of England fans will be opening online betting accounts for the first time this summer.

Alex Hoye, chief executive officer of Latitude said: “Media consumption has shifted dramatically since the last World Cup. Fans will even be watching this tournament on the move through online streams, which will mean in-game betting could explode even further. There will be intense competition amongst gaming companies to get deposits from regular and first time punters during the World Cup, which will lead to some very generous free bets and novelty bets being offered on search engines.”

Latitude run digital marketing campaigns for leading gaming companies including Bet365, Virgin Games, Victor Chandler and PKR across channels such as search engine optimisation (SEO), pay per click (PPC), conversion analytics, social media optimisation, online display advertising and affiliate marketing.

For more information, please contact

Ptarmigan Bell Pottinger
Robert Stebbings
0113 237 2832
Robert@ptarmiganpr.co.uk
or
Ptarmigan Bell Pottinger
Louise Wylie
0113 237 2825
Louise@ptarmiganpr.co.uk