[E D I T O R I A L ]
E G A M I N G R E V I E W
A decade on
eGaming Review looks back on ten years of covering the industry, and relishes the next decade
here is the egaming industry now, and where is it going? These are the two questions eGaming Review hopes to answer,” read the opening lines of the ?rst issue of eGR back in September 2002. Ten years on, we hope we have answered those questions, and more, to the best of our ability, and continue to do so month in, month out in the magazine and day in, day out, online. In everyday terms, 10 years is a long period of time; in gaming terms it has passed by at a million miles an hour in a blur of dynamic change, with more taking place in the last decade than anyone could ever have imagined. The early 2000s were all about experimenting, seeing what worked and what didn’t, testing the rules and regulations and often pushing them to the limits – many say these were the best days to be in gaming. Sites such as Sportingbet, Bodog, BetOnSports, Cassava Enterprises (888), Victor Chandler, Intercasino, Betandwin, Betfair, Stan James, Bet365 and PokerStars among others were the pioneers in internet gaming, sports betting and in-play following on from those that had begun with just a an idea, a handful of staff and a server in a remote but often glamorous tropical offshore location. They paved the way for others to join the game, and rapidly formed and legitimised an industry that had previously been stereotypically associated with otherwise murkier connections. Two years later, eGR compiled its ?rst annual Power 25, which was extended to the Power 50 in 2005. Sportingbet at the time may not have been the most pro?table operator with the most ?nancial backing, or even the one that sought the most headlines, yet, as our entry read, “for our money there is no one to touch Sportingbet right now, with the ?rm topping our charts on scale and reach, in?uence and diversity”. It was double the size of William Hill and turned over US$2bn a year, taking eight bets every second from more than a million customers across the world, but mainly in the States. Today, while Sportingbet remains competitive, it has been overtaken by, rather ironically, William Hill. Then came the backlash and the most shocking episode in our industry's history when George Bush Junior signed the Safe Ports Act. Tacked onto the end of this piece of
“W
legislation was UIGEA, a ruling that would cripple the previously ?ourishing US market overnight for all but two organisations, PokerStars and Full Tilt, which would themselves feel the full force of the US Department of Justice ?ve years later. A number of individuals were forced out, to relocate or simply abandon gaming altogether. Meanwhile in the UK bookmakers were still digesting the government’s Gaming Act of 2005. It was a double-edged sword. On one hand, the UK saw a mass exodus of legitimate, pro?t-making and often public companies to jurisdictions such as Gibraltar, while on the other, businesses were given the freedom to advertise, opening up a whole new channel with which to target customers and broaden their reach and diversity.
As the leading industry publication, website and news service, we will endeavour to serve you just as well in the next 10 years as we believe we have done in the ?rst
A number of other European countries have since followed, but this time, rather than lose revenue generating businesses to foreign climes, they have attracted private operators and opened up their markets to a ringfenced environment. In 2004 eGR called Europe a “new frontier”. Today a dot.country strategy cannot be ignored, with more of the continent’s nations exploring ways in which to generate additional revenues to plug widening budget de?cits. Today, the industry, despite battling numerous regulatory, ?nancial and logistical challenges – as it always has and always will do – is in rude health. Online gaming is an accepted part of everyday society – not for everyone but crucially for the majority. One hundred and twenty months on, we may still be faced with the same questions we posed a decade ago, but as the leading industry publication, website and news service, we will endeavour to serve you just as well in the next 10 years as we believe we have done in the ?rst.
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