The Environment of Mobile Casinos

If you haven't been paying attention, gambling on mobiles is huge. Mobile phones, that is, the most critical piece of technology in our lives, so normal in our lives that it's been years since we considered it an accessory or luxury item. Remember the days when we actually had those friends who held out on buying a cell phone for some strange reason? No longer. (That's now the ipod.)

Leave it to the mobile companies to figure out how to hook us on the technology. First, phone calls. Then text messages. Now? Everything from video games to sports scores to what is sure to become a billion-dollar industry: mobile casinos.

 

Online casinos are already huge, raking in billions around the world, and mobile casinos are next. If you don't know people who are fans of gambling on mobiles, you will soon.

 

The numbers (and almost daily press releases) are in. The Global Betting and Gaming Consultants (GBGC) just released a report that revenues from mobile casinos around the world increased by a whopping 29% in the past year. Customers of mobile carrier Vodafone can play multi-player Texas hold'em, choosing from multiple tables sorted by maximum limits among other options. Spin3 is about to release their mobile games package in Spanish.

 

 

 

Gambling on Mobiles: The Time is Right
What contributed to this onslaught of mobile games tidal wave? The tidal wave which Warwick Bartlett, partner of GBGC, calls the fastest growing platform for bookmakers such as Ladbrokes, Betfred, and Bet365?

 

Bartlett has isolated three reasons:

 

1) The incredible quality of mobile phone handsets. The iphone, the gold standard in interactive phones, has a great display, an easy-to-use keyboard, and makes web browsing actually feel like web browsing. The faster phones continue to improve, the more the casino mobile industry will grow.

 

2) The more established online gambling companies have steadily and carefully grown to the point that they are ready to take on new business ventures. These companies need new product offerings for their customers and for untapped markets. The sports betting companies believe that the arena of mobile casinos is the next big thing and are targeting the mobile market as a way to reach a whole new group of potential bettors.

 

3) "The people have spoken." The software developers of mobile games have not only heard the feedback of their growing user group but have responded with quick fixes, making the software friendlier and easier to use.

 

These improvements should create a tipping point in gambling on mobiles, causing an annual growth rate of 26% over the next four years, thinks Bartlett. An incredible two-thirds of the mobile games market share will come from Asia.

 

Expect the above list to be updated soon with another important factor: mobile companies are listening and are sure to make pricing more customer-friendly, lowering the fees of data charges.

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