It’s becoming more and more common to hear about print publications struggling to compete against the internet. And it’s not just because online content is free, saturating the marketing, and driving the value of printed content well below where it used it to be. It’s also because more and more advertisers are shifting their budgets online. After all, online ads offer you better targeting than their print counterparts, and are often much cheaper.

So when you hear about an organization that’s inextricably lilnked to the online world advertising in print publications, you can’t help but to notice. And that’s just what the Poker Players Alliance is up to. As OCR reports:

The Poker Players Alliance launched a new newspaper advertising campaign Tuesday aimed at underscoring the need for federal regulation of poker.
[...]
“It’s time for some straight talk,” the ad declares, with a picture of a hand holding a royal flush over a poker table as the background.

The ad goes on to argue that sensible federal regulation is the only way to protect the millions of Americans who play Internet poker every day.
[...]
It adds that the federal government has neglected its responsibilities; wrongly believing that censoring the Internet will prove effective.

The PPA has been stepping up its grassroots efforts in October, when it launched the an online resource for poker players to find out how various Representatives have supported poker rights. For them to take their struggle to the print realm, however, and directly target decision makers rather than voters, is a notable change in tactics.

Watch a Video of PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato.

We are conducting another affiliate marketing survey to obtain further insight into the preferences, pattens and trends of affiliates. We hope to use this information (in a confidential manner) to improve our services and the way we interact with affiliates.

Once more participants of the survey will get access to executive summary findings of the survey and IA will also donate $1 to the charity “One Lap Top per Child Foundation” for every survey that’s completed.

Take the survey now!

The survey is 28 questions short and will be open for data collection until the 5th January 2009.

For those of you who are interested in learning more about results of the last survey just make sure you get your hands on the the next CAP Magazine and look for “4 Super Affiliate Strategies:
Findings from the Income Access Affiliate Survey”.

Thanks for your support!

Just a quick note to let you guys know that you may be seeing us in a few more locals, yes we are going beyond our regular hang-outs and into new territory :).

You may have seen us in familiar hangouts such as:

• GPWA
• CAP
• betweendrinks.com P.S we are having our christmas party tonight so be sure to check out betweendrinks for photos from this great night!

New locals:

• Affiliates4U
• Linkedin

We hope to see you there soon!

It looks like the current state of the economy might be giving the igaming industry a competitive edge over its brick & mortar counterparts. Specifically, it looks like consumers are staying home to save money, and that online gaming is one of the places they’re turning to find entertainment. For instance, the GameAccount has seen an increase in money staked. As Gaming Industry Media reports:

The company said it has received £120 million in stakes thus far in 2008, a significant rise against the £10.5 million it reported during the same period last year.

“People are staying at home, not just because it’s getting colder, but to save money, too,” said Dermot Smurfit, GameAccount chief operating officer, in a prepared statement. “As markets all over the world are melting, we’re pleased that more and more people are turning to the Internet and skill gaming for their entertainment.”

Of course, a more than tenfold growth rate can’t be chalked up only to the recession. After all, the GameAccount has pursued a number of marketing strategies, such as an affiliate program (disclosure: the GameAccount is an Income Access partner).

Nevertheless, the positive effects that this economy is having on ecommerce has been seen across the spectrum of industries. For instance, eMarketer is predicting that this will not only be the first year that the internet purchases will surpass brick & mortar ones for holiday shopping, but will do so by more than double. It only makes sense, then, that online entertainment is going to experience relative (if not absolute) growth while its tertiary counterparts feel the effects of a slowdown.

There is a catch in all this, however. Just as a market slowdown can mean new opportunity rather than less opportunity, competition over those opportunities will likely increase. That is, with online operators capturing more of a player’s money staked, they are going to have both the incentive and the resources to step up their marketing efforts.

If the current state of the economy does have positive effects for certain strategic igaming operators, then, those operators are going to have to consider marketing tactics that offer them maximum control over and return on their marketing spend. Should these effects persist, moreover, we may even see a “thinning of the heard.” That is, those operators who are are strategic at this level may very capture a critical shares of the market to the detriment of their competition.

It seems as though Cantor Gaming has acquired one of the world’s largest odd making firms. What’s so interesting about this is that sportsbetting is very much compatible with where Cantor is headed. Cantor has a foothold in two kinds of mobile gaming: mobile phone gaming and another kind of mobile device gaming that players can use while in brick & mortar casinos. Sports betting, of course, is extremely well-suit with mobile gaming because players can place bets as sporting events unfold.

In this latest acquisition, Cantor was very clear that this odd making firm would complement its current array of product offers. As iGaming Business reports:

Las Vegas-based Cantor Gaming, an affiliate of the global financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald, announced that it has acquired Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) Incorporated, one of the world’s largest odds-making firms.
[...]
Cantor stated that products and services from LVSC would complement its own menu of gaming products and allow both firms to provide additional new and dynamic services including international sporting events.

In addition, Cantor revealed that LVSC would utilise its state-of-the-art technology to distribute a broader range of services on a real-time dynamic basis, which will form the platform for a ground-breaking suite of new products offered after appropriate gaming regulatory approvals.

This last mention of how Cantor would use LVSC’s “state-of-the-art technology to distribute a broader range of services on a real-time dynamic basis” seems very much in line with the trials that Cantor’s Ron Rushin discussed with us in August. All in all, then, this acquisition looks very exciting for both Cantor and its players. Offering a robust mobile experience will be important for all entertainment service providers in the very near future, and Cantor seems to be moving in that direction very decisively.

Here’s a clip of Cantor’s CTO, Ron Rushin, discussing the company’s involvement in mobile phone gaming.