I have a very small budget for buying links for a certain website. Small, because basically I want to run a little experiment and closely track the results: what would work best, 1 submission to a premium general directory, or several submissions to budget niche ones, for the same amount of money. Unfortunately, there aren't enough directories in this niche to complete the test, as far as I can tell. I can find one premium one in the niche (run by Chris Hoffman), and about 3 very budget ones. I can't find anything at all in the mid-price range of around $15 to $25, so basically there's very little choice. So my request is this: if you're planning on starting a new directory, build something niche because there aren't enough of them.
What niche? I have a new health directory. I also have an entertainment directory. I also have a legal directory, a tech directory and a webmaster directory. I plan on adding a sports and music directory portal soon.
and the niche is? The problem with paid niche directories they normally have a price higher than general directories, promotion and backlinks are harder and inexpensive and submissions numbers are much less.
The subject is games (not gambling). But it's not just that specific niche: I find that for a lot of topics, it's hard to find good quality niche directories.
You may be interested in a multimedia niche directory that offers a category for games (if you haven't submitted already).
Make sure you are checking the announcement list below, other forums, as well as visit the main directory listers.
I run a PR 5 Myspace Links Directory (in my signature) with 95% of categories and sub categories PR 4 and provide a strong backlink. There is also a games category if you would like to submit to!
I'm surprised you haven't found more sites in that niche. I had thought about starting one; I decided there were too many already and that it would be too expensive to compete against them. Based on what I saw it looked like several of them started out with gamers forums and then developed the directory afterwards. I suggest you keep looking - they're out there.