American Ad Agencies Wish For Online Gambling Boom

US advertising industry publication Advertising Age is reporting that legalized online poker could result in $3.5 to $4 billion being invested in the marketing of the industry over the next five years.

The report cites numbers from gambling consulting firm H2 Gambling Capital, who claims that by 2017 online poker could spend more money on advertising than the insurance industry.

H2 Gambling Capital's Simon Holliday estimated that the online gambling industry will be worth $1 billion by 2014 and worth more than $13 billion within a decade.

"Driving players to their sites is the biggest single cost of these companies," Holliday said. "It is probable that 25 to 30% of company net revenues will be spent on advertising and marketing budgets in the initial years, as there is a land grab."

Caesars Entertainment Interactive Division Executive Mitch Garber commented on the industry's advertising, saying: "Five years ago, the combined spend of all onsite-based gaming companies in online advertising was very small, limited to SEO for attracting visitors to book hotel rooms online and to come to the website. It's changing dramatically. ... There's no question that as an industry we'll be spending more time and money on interactive advertising."

The article went on to report that Caesars recently began searching for an ad agency to oversee digital media purchasing.