Hasta La Creative!

Hey, ad agencies: Feeling lucky? You should be. With online gambling newly legal in Nevada and a host of states looking to follow suit, casinos are expected to flex some major marketing muscle, which could lead to the next boom category for spending.

According to Simon Holliday, director at H2 Gambling Capital, “somewhere between $3.5 billion and $4 billion could be spent by the internet-gaming sector” on marketing over the next five years. That’s more than General Motors spent in U.S. advertising in 2011. And if Mr. Holliday is right, by 2017 the online-gambling industry will be spending nearly as much as the entire insurance category did last year.

The business of online gambling became reality last year when the U.S. Justice Department granted states the power to legalize online platforms connected to bricks-and-mortar casinos. Nevada, the first state to pass a statute legalizing online gambling, is working through kinks in the regulations and its casinos will likely begin advertising in January. Meanwhile, industry executives said 10 additional states, including cash-starved California, as well as New Jersey and Delaware, will likely pass their own laws in the near future.

Continue reading at AdAge.com