Online Casino Traffic Up One-third 2020-2021 For Top Sites

Common sense would say that online casino traffic rose during the pandemic. More people confined to their homes, land-based pokies and pubs shut down, and financial challenges all added up to more people turning to online gambling for entertainment and escape.

Studies have shown the assumptions about online casino traffic to be true. The Australian Gambling Research Centre study, for example, showed more people gambling online than ever before. One-third of those surveyed signed up for new online accounts, and one-third of the participants gambled four or more times per week, an increase of 9% from the previous year.

New data showing online casino traffic from March 2020 to March 2021 shows drastic increases.

AgileHatch Data

Data insight company AgileHatch recently examined information from five of the top Aussie online casinos with servers and licenses outside of Australia. Those sites are also on our list of top-ranked casino operators for customer service, casino games, and payment processing options.

After obtaining data from similarweb, buzzsumo, and semrush, AgileHatch came up with numbers that showed a surge in online gambling during the pandemic. This was a welcome change for many companies that had seen a significant decline in the years 2016-2019.

During the pandemic, though, they found that online casino traffic increased as land-based gambling declined. It did so in such a way that it may have a lasting effect, with more people staying online instead of gambling in person. The social distancing and mask requirements – all of the new rules for brick-and-mortar casinos – might drive people online with a permanence.

Mobile usage also increased during the pandemic.

Joe Fortune Casino Up 31%

As one of our top-rated online casinos, Joe Fortune is a player favorite. The site offers significant welcome packages, hundreds of casino games and slots, and refer-a-friend bonuses. While it has only been in business since 2016, it quickly rivaled the best in the business by offering everything from Microgaming to iSoftbet slots.

Joe Fortune also recently improved its customer service by offering it to 24 hours per day, every day of the week. The casino also offers bitcoin as a payment option and bonuses for using bitcoin.

• Visitors increased 31% from 238,000 in March 2020 to 312,000 in March 2021.
• April 2020 showed the most visitors ever with 853,000 in April 2020.
• People now conduct 37,000 searches for Joe Fortune per month.
• Social media showed 240 shares in March 2021 (doubled since 2020)
• Reddit showed 198 mentioned in March 2021.

Woo Casino Up 57.5%

As a popular casino the years since its 2018 launch, Woo Casino offers everything from standard casino fare to slot races and tournaments. The extra features attract many players who crave some competition and extra chances to win money. In addition to slots and table games, Woo also offers live dealer casino games and scratcher tickets.

Due to player demand, it now offers bitcoin deposits and withdrawals, not to mention a rewards program that gives players incentives to make Woo their casino of choice.

• Visitors to Woo Casino increased 57.5% from 113,000 in March 2020 to 178,000 in March 2021.
• October 2020 was its peak traffic month with 258,000 users.
• May 2020 was its peak visitor month with 250,000 visitors to the site.
• People share Woo Casino 135 times per month on social media.
• Reddit mentions increased to 325 per month.
• People search for the Woo brand 15,000 per month.

Aussie Play Up 85%

This Aussie online casino saw substantial traffic in March 2021. As one of the newest casinos, Aussie Play quickly increased its visibility during the pandemic and showed solid results for it.

• Visitors increased by 85% from 137,000 in March 2020 to 253,000 in March 2021.
• Potential players searched the brand 35,000 times.
• Players shared Aussie Play information 411 times on social media.
• Players mentioned the site 611 times on Reddit.

Ignition Up 14.5%

Ignition Casino and its online poker site have been popular in the Australian igaming market for more than a decade. Players with Ignition accounts tend to be loyal and long-term customers, returning to the site consistently over the years. It was also one of the first casinos to embrace bitcoin.

The increase in traffic to Ignition was lower than the others mentioned in this report. This is interesting mostly because online poker traffic – in general – increased substantially around the world. Since Ignition offers online poker and casino games, it would seem that more players turned to Ignition during the pandemic, but the numbers don’t show that to be the case.

Nevertheless, Ignition does remain one of the most popular sites in the Aussie market. Its peak month of May 2020 provided evidence of that with more than 1.1 million Australian users.

• Ignition visitors increased 14.5% from 422,000 in March 2020 to 483,000 in March 2021.
• Semrush showed 23,000 brand searches for Ignition.
• Social media shares tallied 210 according to buzzsumo.
• Reddit participants mentioned Ignition 611 times.

CasinoNic Up 66%

The AgileHatch research shows NicPokies rounding out the top five sites that grew during the pandemic, though the official name of the casino is CasinoNic. It consistently ranks in our top five casinos due to its extensive list of games and payment processing options, which include bitcoin.

CasinoNic only opened in 2018 but has accumulated quite a following, even more so during the pandemic. Its biggest month to date was April 2020 when it showed 420,000 users on the site.

• Visitors to CasinoNic increased to 93,000 visitors in March 2021 from 56,000 in March 2020.
• Reddit users mentioned CasinoNic 492 times.
• Buzzsumo recorded 150 social media shares.
• Semrush showed 19,000 brand searches for CasinoNic and NicPokies.

Overall Aussie Market Growth

The IcoHolder analytics platform recently estimated that the global online gambling industry will reach a value of $1 trillion this year. Part of this is due to increased gaming available on mobile devices, while some is also due to the pandemic and the deposit options and game choices online far outweigh choices at land-based gambling establishments.

Mobile usage for online gambling accounts for 59% of online pokies growth overall. And the growth rate should continue, per many analysts, in the coming years at 10% to 15% per year, minimum.