From the March 2001 issue of Internet Gaming International.
"The future is good, maybe great. There is room on this ride for more participants and there are enough players worldwide to go around…many times…to create significantly more millionaires," says Mickey Charles, the well-known, provocative and always colorful industry guru and President and CEO of the Sports Network, who spoke at the Fourth Annual Symposium on Internet Gambling Law and Management, held in November in Antigua.
According to Charles, Internet gaming is "here to stay in one form or the other notwithstanding the efforts of Senator Kyl and others in the U.S. Congress. There is no contradicting that. Controlling it (gaming) on the Internet is not only a formidable task, it is an impossible one."
While Charles believes that there will be victims --- unwitting casualties --- put through legal machinations of over-zealous politicians patrolling the Internet in search of votes, he says to would-be entrants into the field, "You must believe that you shall not be within their number and push on within an industry that has walk-in vault in Switzerland written all over it."
He points to offshore operators that are doing $100 million plus in gross revenue annually with 100-150 employees, those that are greater than that in personnel and revenue and still others doing similar numbers with decidedly fewer employees.
There are also failure stories of Internet gaming operators laying off employees or shutting down due to not having realized unrealistic goals.
How can an operator insure that it is a winner and not a loser in this burgeoning field?
"Content is king on the Internet and reigns supreme," says Charles. "The need for content, to be in touch with the world, sports or otherwise; to be able to obtain the latest odds, news, weather and financial data; place a wager by hitting a keyboard or a number on your cellular phone or accessing the latest stock price of the IPO shares you purchased just the day before is highlighting our lives these days."
Charles maintains that Internet gaming operators must build upon their content at all times. "The evergreens that permeate and extend throughout your site are fine but the users need dynamic data and activity, which brings them back again and again. It must take them beyond the daily odds, games schedule, injuries, weather updates, archival statistical data and current news," he says.
He advises Internet gaming operators to "go out and source content that enhances your own, that balances what you already display, adds to it and shows the user the full sum and substance of related topics."
"Whether or not you license programming software by outsourcing the project, as many within the industry do relative to their basic wagering engine(s), or create your own proprietary software is a matter of some debate domestically and internationally. It ranks right up there with designing and maintaining your site or giving that task out to an ISP or others," he says.
Charles says while both schools of thought are valid, his own site The Sports Network believes in controlling its own destiny with in-house product built by staff, changed and enhanced as necessary. According to Charles, the primary considerations in making this decision should be cost and effectiveness.
Business plans of Internet gaming operators need to treat promotion with primacy --- of equal importance with content of the site. "The player is going to take Dallas minus 7 with anyone at all that has that number and he will gravitate towards 61/2 with the speed of a falling meteor….While there's (customer) loyalty, it can be elusive and part of history if he finds more comfort elsewhere --- with the person with whom he now speaks regularly, the better number, faster payment, and other enticements to move --- free bets, discounts, more sports wagering opportunities, additional and richer content," he says.
According to Charles, stickiness is the poster child catchword of the new millennium. "Its definition is really 'show me the traffic.' If you have the dynamism that attracts eyeballs and interaction, realize that it is an integral ingredient for success, possess more page impressions and the ability to sell advertising and sponsorships you have found your niche on the Internet and must build upon it. Part and parcel of that package is delivering audience to your sponsors and advertisers."
Advertisers want results and, Charles says, "must be taught that the Internet is nothing more than this giant billboard for awareness of product. Stimulation to interact, a direct call for action, prizes to be won, a specific interest factor, will bring people from one site to the other but it does not guarantee a purchase of any sort, now or in the foreseeable future."
In Charles' opinion, alliances, relationships and associations "with others that are not in direct conflict with what you are doing must be put into place with as many anticipated mutually beneficial results as possible."
Among his other advice, "Expand into sports other than those with which you are familiar and open up an entirely new legion of followers. Be certain to be multi-lingual -- Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Italian. Train some, or all, of your people in this area and watch your business increase."
"If you're in the wagering business, your revenue stream is assured, and you can add to it in a number of ways," he says. If a site doesn't take wagers but charges for the privilege of entering, he says, "I would not recommend that at all unless you are prepared to divulge the riddle of the Sphinx or that of the Gordian knot. There is simply too much free content available…that leaves you with advertising, sponsorship, fantasy games, e-commerce and the possibility of reselling and/or branding content that might be significantly unique and/or appealing to other sites."
"Creating a site on the Internet is a relatively easy task these days. Making it dynamic and updating it with unerring regularity for user appeal and interest is another matter altogether and requires the components that one would find in an ongoing business venture," he says.
Charles emphasizes that Internet gaming is as competitive a field as land-based gaming or any other business. "Being first means precisely that, being first. It does not exclude the others that have dreams of going the same route with different vehicles or simply better ones for the success that awaits," he explains.
Charles concludes that "there are lots of seats left on the bandwagon…Sebastian Sinclair, a gaming analyst with Christiansen Capital Advisors LLC, has estimated that Americans wager as much as $50 billion a year on sports events, not including horse racing, and that more than $15 billion of that takes place through offshore bookmakers. The fastest growing segment by far are bets placed on or through the Internet. American sports bettors last year wagered more than $9 billion online, an amount expected to triple by next year," Charles says.