HOME & LEISURE MARKET

ASIA: New South Wales reviews the legal status of online betting.

The New South Wales Gaming and Racing Minister has announced that he is reviewing the status of online betting in the state to recoup the tax revenue currently being lost to the Northern Territory where the industry is legal.

In a separate development, Tabcorp, the owners of the Star City casino in Sydney has signed a 12 year deal with the New South Wales government which guarantees that there will be no new casinos in the state for the duration of the agreement.

In return Tabcorp will pay the government an up-front fee of A$100m. The New South Wales Treasurer stated that changes to the tax structure, incorporated in the deal, will increase casino tax revenues by 32% by 2012-2013.

Related Market Industry Report

Australia Casinos 2007

Snapdata's Snapshots Australia Casinos 2007 provides 2005 year-end market size data, with 2006 estimates, 4 years of historical data and five-year forecasts. The Snapshots report gives an instant overview of the Australian casino market, and covers expenditure on casino games. Market value is based on the total amount of money exchanged for gaming chips in casinos. The data is supplied in both graphical and tabular format for ease of interpretation and analysis. The Snapshots Australia Casinos 2007 forms part of Snapdata's Home & Leisure industry coverage.

GAMES HARDWARE

ASIA: Wii's success drives Nintendo's market capitalisation.

Both Microsoft and Sony have cut the price of their core consoles in the US market. The various formats of the Xbox will see discounts of between $20 and $50.

These moves are in part spurred by the availability of the cheaper Nintendo Wii.

The Wii is outselling Sony's Playstation 3 by a factor of six in the Japanese market and a factor of 2 in the USA. This success resulted in Nintendo's market capitalisation outstripping Sony's in July 2007.

GAMBLING MARKETS

EUROPE: Television advertising by gambling companies deregulated by the 2005 Gambling Act.

The Gambling Act 2005 which comes into force on 1 September 2007 contains a number of provisions, key amongst which is the deregulation of television advertising.

Gambling companies will be able to broadcast advertisements after 9pm; sports betting advertisements will be permitted during sporting events broadcast before this watershed.

However, the Act only applies to companies based in the European Economic Area, Gibraltar or a 'white-list' of other approved domiciles. Key centres of online gambling activity such as Costa Rica and Antigua have not yet applied to join the 'white-list'.

The measures have been criticised by the Royal College of Psychiatrists as a 'recipe for disaster'.