Stability and recovery, the keys of 2010

It is necessary to understand the scenario that the international market offered at the end of 2009. The worldwide economic crisis had hit everyone hard, and the gaming sector was strongly damaged by this phenomenon, specially Europe and the United States.

Operators had to adjust their budgets, make their investments more efficient and manufacturers have seen a decrease in the purchase orders of their main customers. Last February, and as a simple sign of what was happening, Nevada casinos experimented the greatest fall in their incomes in history. The activity was freezing and analysts expected signs of a more promising future to be able to forecast a recovery.

It is, then, necessary to mention the slow but sustained recovery that finally offered the gaming industry this year, reaching what now could be defined as a healthy way to get out of the crisis. Statements by international companies in G2E Las Vegas (the latest great event of the year for the sector) is proof of that, where players of the industry agreed that there was a much more active environment by investors.

It is also important to note -with regards to what what seen in this event- that companies made a very strong bet in technological development in the last twelve months, trusting in the recovery of a sector that today promises a stable and growing 2011.

Among the most promising markets in Latin America we can find Mexico, because, from its opening, it attracted the attention of the sector with a huge potential. The country managed to consolidate its legal and transparent industry in 2010, expanded its number of gambling venues and offered investment options to big international gaming chains.

With Mexico heading the sector, we can add clear gaming rules in Peru and the approval of the Gambling Law in Bolivia, factors that now propose new growth horizons in Latin America, together with more mature markets, such as Argentina or Colombia. The Colombian market suffered legal changes with the elimination of ETESA and the distribution of roles referred to regulations, proposing a more effective and regulated market to international investors.

The earthquake in Chile was one of the dark sides that moved the industry this year. During a quarter, operators had to rearrange their gaming offer and overcome to the hard blow that a natural catastrophe of this kind represents for the public in general, naturally, unwilling to invest hours of leisure in a betting center. Luckily, the situation was left behind, because during the first semestre, the efforts focused in starting this industry reaped its rewards in Chile.

The great disappointment was, once again, the situation of the gaming activity in Brazil, which concluded with the recent rejection by the Congress when boosting a legislation that could reopen gambling venues in the country.

During the year we reflected news that talked about the efforts performed, and all type of mobilizations were boosted in order to allow the treatment of this gaming law, expected by manufacturers and operators worldwide, thanks to the enormous potential that Brazil offered until its closure. But the end of the road, at least at the end of 2010, was marked by the disappointment of those who expected to find, next year, bingo halls opened in the main cities of the country.

At an international level, some of the most remarkable ítems are, on one hand, the growth of online gaming in European markets. With clearer rules and legislations that offer a legal frame to operate, such as France, big online betting actors decided to start their operations in several of those markets.

While other European countries are still waiting to define their position on the matter, during a great part of 2010, there were talks on the possibility that US could liberalize its laws with regards to the online gaming activity, with poker as maximum referent when opening new markets. In this sense, several bills were presented, which seek to end with the current prohibition, with the support of entities such as the American Gaming Association, which now accepts a regulation on the growing online poker market.

Talking about the international casino sector, Las Vegas recently inaugurated its new Cosmopolitan, just metres from the also new City Center (inaugurated at the end of 2009), in one of the facts that moved the famous Strip of the international gaming capital and renewed the sense of wonder of visitors. Asia kept the pulse of the industry alive with the opening of the first casinos in Singapore and the consolidation of the offer in Macau, which in 2010 achieved historical collection records in gaming. We have to add the countinuous debates and presentations at a government level in Japan, with the aim to define a legislation that allows the casino operation.

The growth of poker as an option associated to casinos was another of the “factors of the year”, both in Latin America and worldwide, and for 2011, we have to expect more growth of this phenomenon, as well as the opening of online gaming.

To conclude, we want to tell you what we have lived in Yogonet inside our organization. As a company, this year we bet to strenghen each of the products we offer, expanding initially our team of professionals. With more human resources in the areas of writing, design, technology and sales, we achieved to get to the information in a more direct way, and support our customers with more and better tools.

With regards to the products, and beyond our Yogonet.com newspaper, we offered, once more, a Directory for the industry, both in paper and online, with excellent results. In the training area, we strengthened our position with the agreement signed with ZL-SGC to organize courses (which enabled us to train more than 120 executives in different areas); and the renewed bet in EY! Encuentro Yogonet, with an important congress in Buenos Aires and our arrival in Mexico.

Besides, this year we decided to start with the End-of-the-Year Special, through which we seek the opinion of many of the leading actors of this industry so, through their opinions, we can offer a wider vision of what 2010 brought us, and we can also start discerning the future. 2011 is coming and promises important news for everyone. Yogonet.com staff wishes to countinue being your secure source of information.