Search for "online casinos" showing recent decline

Search volume for keywords stemming out of "online casinos" have shown a significant decline since 2006. According to Google Trends, the search for online casinos is in a slump ever since the U.S. Government passed the law barring banks and other financial institutions in the country from processing transactions to and from online gambling websites, also known as UIGEA. Looking at the trends table it is clear that the search for online casinos on the world's most popular search engine has declined by 50% since 2004. But the decline in interest began not with the online gambling law, rather than the arrest of BetOnSports CEO David Carruthers and founder Gary Stephen Kaplan. Even though online casinos and the sports betting have nothing in common, other than they are both forms of gambling, it was the casinos who suffered.

Another interesting trend worth noting is the fact that United States is now down to 6th spot in the rank by regions, when searches for "online casinos" are concerned. Israel is the new leader with most queries coming out of Haifa, Israel. South Africa seems to be the new trendy spot at No.2 and Costa Rica comes as No.3 on the list. Surprisingly Argentina searches more for online casinos than the U.S., but the states were also outranked by Canada, which is sitting on the 4th position. English, however, remains the top search language.

Published on 07/12/2008