Interactive Gambling: 2000 and Beyond

The Nambling Notes department is taking its traditional New Year's hiatus to make way for IGN's annual "year in review" column. At this time last year, we were stockpiling canned foods and shotgun shells in hopes of surviving the ensuing millennium bug catastrophe. Amazingly, the sky has yet to fall, and a year later, we're still plugging away. Following is a timeline of events in 2000 that had a significant impact on the online gambling industry as well as a glance at what to expect in 2001.

As per tradition, I'll first bring you up to speed with what's happening in our neck of the woods. The year 2000, the River City Group's second year in existence, was all about growth. Our staff grew from six to 15, including a new department specializing in business-to-business services. Interactive Gaming News nearly doubled its library of archived articles and introduced new research tools to manage it. We also debuted "MatchPlay," a free biweekly B2B newsletter. Our industry tradeshow, the Global Interactive Gaming Summit, was a huge success, drawing 26 exhibitors and 520 delegates in Montreal. And to end the year strongly, we put the finishing touches on the second edition of the "Wagering on the Internet" study, a joint project with CCA, Inc.

We'll continue growing in 2001. This week we'll launch an online business-to-business marketplace specifically geared for persons and businesses in the interactive gambling business. IGN will continue to grow too, with new sections, new tools and eventually a new look. Our research department is in the early stages of putting together a few additional industry studies to be released in coming months. Finally, the River City Group will be involved with several international events, including its Third Annual Global Interactive Gaming Summit & Expo June 5-7 in Toronto.

Enough about us. Following is the IGN year-end roundup:

A Look Back at 2000
A Glance at 2001