The Current State of the Mobile Gambling Industry

In recent years there’s been a significant increase in the number of people downloading gambling apps in order to place bets, buy lottery tickets, and play games via a mobile device. According to the recent Global Mobile Gambling Market research report published by Technavio, this trend is set to continue, with worldwide mobile gambling revenue (which is currently estimated to be around $20 billion) set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.36% between 2015-2019, with 43% CAGR in terms of total annual wagers. In addition, a further research report entitled Gambling Market in the UK 2014-2018, suggests that the UK gambling market is set to grow at a rate of 2.67% to 2018.

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The mobile gambling market covers betting, gaming and lotteries. Betting, including all betting on outdoor sports plus machine betting, takes up almost half the share of the mobile gambling market.

Revenue from gaming includes the money spent on both casino games and slot machines, so as many people choose to play mobile games at Europalace.com, this is one online slot company that’s expected to benefit from the growth of the mobile market. Countries with more liberal attitudes towards gambling have already started to ease the regulations relating to lotteries in order to make them more accessible.

An increasing number of people now use mobiles to shop, play games and gamble. This increase in use is mainly down to convenience, as smartphones make it possible to do all these things just by touching the screen. Furthermore, the mobile aspect of such platforms allows people to play wherever they are; they no longer need to wait until they get home to play a game of slots, or to put a bet on the Grand National; they can do it while they’re on the move. Therefore, as more and more of us acquire a smartphone, mobile gambling is set to increase. On a worldwide level, Europe, the Middle East and Africa are leading the way, followed by the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions. However, Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing region and this growth is expected to continue.

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It’s also believed that the increasing number of women taking part in online gambling will help the industry to grow over the coming years.  Approximately 68% of women in the UK participated in some form of gambling during the period of the research, with women being much more likely to gamble online than gamble outside the home.

Although gambling regulations are likely to be a major challenge to the growth of mobile gambling,  it also opens up opportunities, particularly as the majority of countries don’t currently have any specific regulations in place for mobile gambling. Most existing laws are outdated without any reference to online gambling. This means that many countries are now in the process of adapting their outdated laws and looking at ways to implement regulations that will help both the companies and their government, and these changes in mobile gambling regulations mean that opportunities have opened up for players to take part in online gambling activities, no matter where they are in the world. While some believe that gambling should be made illegal, there’s no doubt that it contributes significant revenue to the GDP of a country, and to the economy as a whole.

However, despite this shift, gambling still continues to be a highly regulated industry, whether it’s online or offline. Applying for and renewing gambling licences is still difficult and, as many countries still do not have well-defined regulatory frameworks in place for mobile gambling, the future is still very uncertain.