UK gambling websites ready for US traffic boost, research suggests
04/08/2010 11:20:00
Research from website performance and load testing specialist Site Confidence, an NCC Group company, suggests that UK gambling websites are ready to take advantage of renewed traffic from the US to boost revenues, should online gambling be legalised in America.
Research from website performance and load testing specialist Site
Confidence, an NCC Group company, suggests that UK gambling websites are
ready to take advantage of renewed traffic from the US to boost
revenues, should online gambling be legalised in America.
UK gambling websites enjoyed 99.91 per cent availability for the period
between 1 June and 31 July 2010, representing an average downtime of one
hour and 19 minutes, according to Site Confidence. In addition, the
average download speed across UK online gambling sites for the same
period was just four seconds – well under the desired eight second
benchmark for website download time.
The research follows last Wednesday’s decision (28.07.10) by US
lawmakers on the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee
to approve legislation to reinstate online gambling. The legislation
must now be put before the full House of Representatives and the Senate,
and additional legislation outlining how online gambling would be taxed
must be approved. However, the move represents strong intent to
legalise online gambling in the country which would likely mean a
notable boost in revenues for established UK sites.
Bob Dowson, director at Site Confidence, said: “A return for online
gambling in the US could be a real boost for the UK gambling industry.
However, competition in the space is already fierce with M&A
activity, including the recent merger of PartyGaming and Bwin, and
continued speculation surrounding 888, fuelling providers’ drive towards
optimum website performance. This competition will only increase as new
US providers get in on the act. In turn, it is essential that UK
gambling sites can cope with increased traffic and provide a seamless
user experience to avoid losing visitors to rivals – which are only a
click away.
“Our research illustrates that UK gambling sites are already offering a
strong user experience. In addition, a notable lack of prolonged
downtime – particularly during a period that included the World Cup –
suggests that internet gambling providers have built necessary capacity
to cope with high volumes of traffic and are load testing ahead of
expected hikes in visitor volumes. On this evidence, providers have
strong foundations to build on to respond to increased traffic from the
US, and competition from new American and enlarged European companies.
“However, it is likely increased US traffic will require additional load
testing to cope with expected volumes, particularly immediately after
legalisation.”
The American market was the biggest consumer of online UK gambling firms
before internet gambling was made illegal in the US in September 2006.
The Monday morning following the decision brought huge losses to UK
gambling giants such as Sportingbet, PartyGaming and 888 holdings, which
saw share price reductions of 64 per cent, 58 per cent and 26 per cent
respectively, causing a cumulative loss of £4bn, according to US blog
iFresh News.
This story was originally featured on www.nccgroup.com
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