Casino Gambling ForecastFUTURE TRENDSDigital Television Promises InteractivityThe following figure shows retail sales of digital television at current prices, 2001-05. FIGURE 41: Total wholesale sales of DTV sets and displays by US manufacturers, at current prices, Year 2001-2005 Sales at current prices millions of dollars Index of change %2001 2,648 100 -2002 4,280 162 61.62003 6,521 246 52 .42004 10,420 394 59.82005 (estimate) 17,388 657 66.9SOURCE: Digital Television Mintel/CEAIf it is not yet a significant advantage for the gambling industry, it will be soon enough. Digital television is a new broadcast technology that is expected to transform the television experience. By bundling information into digital bits, broadcasters will be able to stream more product into homes than previously available with analog broadcast technology. According to the CEA, wholesale sales reached $17 billion in 2005 and a household penetration rate of 15%. The higher resolution of DTVs will result in better picture and sound quality, but what the gaming industry is interested in is that the new space on the digital spectrum will allow for more interactive technologies. According to Congress, broadcasters will transition from analog to all-digital broadcasts starting February 19, 2009. At that point, homes will become interactive audio and video centers with opportunities for shopping, online banking, video games, video on demand and gaming. 'I gamble. Alongside mobile CE products and broadband technology, digital television is another frontier for the home gambling industry. One such model is the one designed by the cable network Spike TV. In 2006, the network announced the creation of Spike Casino, a program that allows viewers to bet on games such as roulette, craps, and slot machines in real time and interact with viewers in live chat rooms. Young Hispanics are wireless and already gambling online Hispanic population growth increased nearly 58% from 1990 to 2000, more than four times the growth rate of the US population. In 2006, the 44 million Hispanics made up 14.7 percent of the total population of 299 million in 2006. Even more significantly, the community is expected to continue to grow at a strong and steady pace. It is estimated that by 2050, approximately 30% of the entire US population will be Hispanic. Hispanics represent the ethnic group in the United States that is most likely to gamble online and at home, and is most likely to be a very frequent visitor to physical casinos (six or more times a year) (see The Consumer section). According to the 2005 Trends and Impact of Broadband in the Latino Community report, published by the University of Southern California's Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, 14 million U.