Editor's Letter: The eGaming Review Power 50 2009

EVERY EGAMING industry list or compilation is inevitably a snapshot of where the sector is at a certain point of time. This year’s edition of the Power 50 is no different, but brings with it a number of changes which make this industry observer think they might be more lasting.

If one looks back at previous editions of the Power 50, 2007 was still reeling from the shock of the US internet gaming ban and the arrests of egaming executives there and in Europe; 2008 meanwhile was described as “positively tame” as working conditions normalised as much as they could.

But if one word could summarise the developments in online gaming over the past 12 months, it would be regulation. It might not be an exciting way to describe the advances of the sector, but the industry’s lobbying efforts are paying off through regulatory progress.

This in turn has led to the inclusion of media groups and former monopolies in newly ““ or soon-to-be-regulated markets in the 2009 Power 50 and new entrants that are looking to operate in the most regulated way possible. A trend that is only likely to grow as more countries and operators push for regulation of more online gaming markets.

Will the 2010 Power 50 be a carbon copy of 2009’s list? Of course not, but who says regulated markets says long-term viability of business models; and of the industry.

The eGaming Review Power 50 2009 was published this month.