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.”