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Current Trends in UK Gambling Market

August 19, 2013 / Staff

Anyone who opens their eyes to the popular media will know that online gambling has become a huge business in the UK, with revenues surpassing the £2 billion mark last year; surely good news for the treasury.

The meteoric rise of online gambling is probably due to a number of factors, but there seems to be a distinct trio acting as a driving
force: sports betting, the online casino, and the popularity of mobile internet devices such as smart phones and tablets.

The online casino has really captures the imagination of a lot of Brits. It offers many more games than merely the casino favorites of old. Bingo has certainly found a home on the net, with popularity going through the roof due to socially marketed gaming, and free bet rewards. The free bet is a big draw to many potential punters across the gambling board.

Sports betting has always been something we associate with the bookmakers, but where in the past this may have been confined to horse racing, the phenomenon has now spread to football. Football is our national sport, and you’ll notice many gambling ads both at half time and before televised games. Many of these ads will be promoting things like ‘in play’ betting; another big draw for many gamblers who believe they can read games well.

The net is no longer removed from our grasp, the way it was with standalone PCs; it’s now an ever-present on smart phones and tablets.
This takes out the need to make the trip to the bookmakers, and it also provides a handy platform for games like bingo and the sites like JackpotCity.co.uk to run on.

Uncategorized

casino revenues football betting industry gambling industry gambling market UK gambling market

New proposal for corporate tax reform

July 30, 2013 / Staff

The Obama administration is trying to revive talks about corporate tax reform that could see the top rate in the US drop from 35 percent to 28 percent. This time, in order to strike a deal with House Republicans, Obama is linking his corporate tax proposal to other proposals for investments that would trigger growth in middle class jobs, such as infrastructure investments.

This offers another test as to whether House Republicans are remotely interested in governing as opposed to reflexively opposing anything Obama stands for. Most House Republicans strongly favor corporate tax reform, and many of them also understand the importance of investments like infrastructure.

This proposal should also generate support among business lobbyists as well, though Obama’s insistence on some sort of minimum tax for foreign corporate earnings will still be a problem for many multinationals.

Something needs to happen, however, as the current system is riddled with loopholes.

Economy

business lobbyists corporate tax reform foreign corporate earnings House Republicans infrastructure investments Obama administration tax loopholes tax policy

Federal budget outlook is improving

May 8, 2013 / Staff

The economy is steadily improving, and now we’re seeing improvement with the US budget deficit.

In February, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted that this year’s deficit would fall to $845 billion, down from nearly $1.1 trillion in 2012. Goldman Sachs recently predicted that the deficit would fall even further, to $775 billion, and return to sustainable levels within two years.
As a result, the national debt is rising far more slowly than in the frantic days after the 2008 economic crisis: The Treasury Department actually expects to repay a tiny sliver of the $16.8 trillion national debt by the end of June.
Much of the improvement stems from recent budget deals. Over the past two years, Congress has capped agency spending and created the sequester, which is trimming outlays on domestic programs and the military. Lawmakers also agreed to raise taxes on virtually every American this year, letting a temporary reduction in the payroll tax expire and tax rates rise for households earning more than $450,000 a year.
But other factors are at work, too. Defense spending has been declining rapidly with the end of the war in Iraq and the ongoing drawdown of forces in Afghanistan. A surprising — and apparently durable — slowdown in health-care costs has sharply reduced projected spending on Medicare and Medicaid. And the falling jobless rate and improving economy have helped push federal tax collections up 16 percent over last year, according to figures out Tuesday.

This will have interesting implications for budget talks, but also should start instilling some confidence with business leaders, which hopefully then fuels even more economic growth.

Economy, General Business

Congressional Budget Office defense spending deficit federal budget deficit federal budget outlook health care costs health care savings health care spending sequester Treasury Department

Shale oil boom helps local banks

May 4, 2013 / Staff

The fracking revolution is having a ripple effect throughout the U.S. economy. That applies to both the natural gas boom in states like Ohio and the oil gas boom in North Dakota. BusinessWeek notes the impact the oil boom is having on local banks.

In his office on the second floor of a glass-encased building on North Main Street in Watford City, N.D., Stephen Stenehjem rolls out a map of a proposed multimillion-dollar residential development and shakes his head in disbelief. “My dad would have been very pleased,” says Stenehjem, a third-generation banker and the chief executive officer of First International Bank & Trust. “For 25 years, our focus as a community bank was to help keep our small town alive. So it has been really fun to see this oil come back.”
Once a depressed town of 1,700 in what was America’s least-visited state, Watford City and its neighbors are at the center of North Dakota’s oil and gas boom. While about 470 banks across the U.S. have folded in the past five years, those serving America’s new fracking economy have seen explosive growth. Oilfield workers carrying paychecks, investors looking to build, and farmers enjoying mineral-rights payments are pouring money into banks. First International, with $1.3 billion in assets and 21 branches in North Dakota, Arizona, and Minnesota, hired 65 employees over the past year, including lenders, trust officers, and insurance agents, and plans to add 30 more this year. “It’s fun to be a banker in North Dakota,” Stenehjem says. “Even six or seven years ago, if there was a new pole barn going up in the county, I knew about it. Now I can’t keep track of everything.”

The implications for the U.S. economy are staggering. It’s great to hear good news and we’ll be following this story.

Economy, Energy, Finance, General Business

Bakken shale oil boom fracking fracking boom fracking risks gas boom gas industry gas industry risks hydraulic fracturing hydraulic fracturing risks North Dakota oil boom oil fracking oil in North Dakota producing shale gas shale gas shale gas boom shale gas risks shale oil boom Watford City Watford City banks Watford City boom

Will cable’s business model unravel?

May 2, 2013 / Staff

Are you sick of cable bills over $100 per month? Are you tired of paying for bundled cable channels that you never watch?

Thing may be changing as more people, particularly young people, are opting out of cable in favor of streaming services like Netflix and online TV options.

Even the CEO of Time Warner Cable is changing his tune in the face of new services like Aereo that offers everything that appears on CBS, NBC, Fox, ABC, PBS and roughly two dozen other channels for less than $10 a month.

Now, more and more people are also getting set-up boxes as the ability to access online video and TV shows is showing up in Blu-ray players as well. The pressure on the cable companies and content providers to change the pricing model will just keep growing.

Advertising, Media

Aereo cable business model Internet TV online TV