The internet and online technologies are increasing in popularity with older users; with more than half those aged 55 or over claiming that the internet has given them a new lease of life, using the medium to look for love online and play games.
The annual Silver Surfers Day, supported by the European Union’s social fund, tries to introduce older groups to technologies, aiming to ease 10,000 “digitally excluded” older people into a digital life by showing them how technologies might add to their lives.
According to a report by the Independent Consumer Panel for the Government watchdog, Ofcom, older and lower income people feel alienated from digital life, with just one in five people aged 65 or over keeping up to date with technological changes such as broadband and digital radio (see UK Public Unaware Of Impending Digital Switchover).
A recent report published by Telewest Broadband reveals that 43% of the over 50s use the internet to search for far-flung friends and family, 22% play online games such as bingo, while 7% regularly visit online dating services and chat rooms.
Online gaming has enjoyed a recent surge of popularity, with a report published by Research and Markets earlier this year, estimating that the total amount of money gambled around the world on poker websites will exceed $60 billion in 2005 (see Over 14 Million Europeans Visited Gaming Sites During February).
The company predicts Europe as an area of growth saying: “When it comes to geographical expansion, Europe seems to be the place to go, 52% of our experts believe that Europe offers the greatest future potential for online poker.”
Gaming is also forecast to perform strongly for the mobile phones industry, estimated to generate over $2 billion by 2006, according to a report from Juniper Research (see Gambling To Generate Over $2 Billion By 2006 For Mobile Phone Industry).
The research reveals that lotteries will be the largest money-spinners, with gross revenues of nearly $7.9 billion worldwide, followed by sports betting predicted to take $6.9 billion, and casino style gaming at $4.5 billion.
A recent report by YouGov stated that since 2003, the number of Britons betting online has risen a staggering 556%, with almost 80% of Europe’s online players being British (see UK Females Set To Lead Online Gambling).
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