- A survey of players in New Jersey has suggested that the regulated sites are attracting players away from offshore sites.
- Promotions tied to local casino are the “most effective tool in bringing players to play online.”
- The types of promotions that characterize the result include transferable loyalty points, and the offer of free or discounted hotel rooms at off peak times.
A survey of 520 online gamblers in New Jersey last month found that 16% used off shore sites exclusively. The same question asked in January revealed 24% of players bypassed the newly regulated US sites in favor of their unregulated counterparts.
Those figures represent a reduction of 33% in the number of players patronizing offshore sites and not switching to the New Jersey regulated alternatives.
Other findings in the survey indicate that 26% of New Jersey players play on both state regulated and non-state regulated sites. 37% have switched and only play on New Jersey regulated sites and 35% of existing online players had never played online before the New Jersey regulated program launched last November.
The survey results were partially released by consultants Commercial Intelligence as part of promotional efforts for the GiGse gaming conference in San Francisco earlier this month.
“Wave 1” of the survey published results from the January survey, “Wave 2”—which was released at the conference—compares those results with the same survey questions asked between June 13 and June 18.
Wave 1 produced several findings which will be of interest from both a business and political perspective.
Land-Based Promotions More Effective than Cash
The most notable result was that promotions tied to local casinos are the “most effective tool in bringing players to play online.”
The types of promotions that characterize the result include transferable loyalty points, and the offer of free or discounted hotel rooms at off peak times.
The survey found that 61% of players report being influenced by land-based promotions compared to 41% who said they had been influenced by cash promotions.
Online and Land-Based Markets are Different
The survey highlighted the existence of a genuine distinction between the online and land-based casino markets. Only 29% of online players visit land based casinos once a month or more—48% visit a couple of times a year or less.
Those who used the state regulated sites rather than offshore sites were much more likely to also be land-based casino customers—likely another indication of the effectiveness of promotional efforts.
Poker was the most popular of the games available online. 59% of respondents said they had played online poker in the last 12 months. 77% said they had played poker at a land based casino, but games such as blackjack, slots and roulette were more popular activities than poker in the real rather than virtual environment.
