Mobile Gambling Industry Booming
Way back in 1996, online gambling had a bad reputation. The sites were known to be virus-filled, and most people stayed away from them. Around the turn of the century, that all changed.
Online gambling began to pick up steam. Once broadband Internet became the norm in households, online gambling picked up steam. Once politicians caught wind of it, it was caught up in a mess of litigation.
While people were busy trying to optimize their site for both content and speed, there was a dramatic rise in a new field: mobile. Mobile devices went from being monochrome screens where you cursed when you failed at snake to flip phones where you could download select approved apps. Casino apps were included, but obviously, not for real money.
That changed when the smartphone rolled around. Since that time, whether it’s an app that displays a mobile version of a site or an app dedicated purely to gaming, online gaming has been on the rise. In fact, this past year, one company said that their gaming revenue rose by nearly 20% in the first half of the year, and its user base doubled.
Mobile usage jumped during the period as well, with 32% of all gaming revenues coming from a mobile device. That number almost doubles 2013’s revenue, which was 17%. Keep in mind that these numbers are covering actual casino games, like roulette and poker. Once sports betting gets involved, those numbers will likely increase dramatically.
These numbers are pretty impressive, and it goes to show what people are doing with their downtime. It’s also showing, for the first time in the industry, that people are starting to reach for their phone more often instead of turning on their laptop or desktop computer.
This brings a new round of issues. Stateside, only three states have legalized gambling. It’s highly likely that these apps use location detecting tools to determine where the user is, but just as easily, the user could spoof their location, which brings about a whole other mess of issues.
Interestingly, we haven’t heard much specifically related to mobile gaming. Sheldon Adelson is attacking online gambling in general, but with his issues of location and identity, you’d think that he’d specifically target mobile gaming. Since he doesn’t use technology often, maybe he’s unaware of the mobile trend.
Regardless, this is good news. It shows both an upward trend in users embracing new technology, as well as an upward trend in mobile online gambling. Perhaps users are realizing that they get better offers online, such as no deposit bonuses, which is something that they likely can’t get in person.
The quest to legalize online gambling has gone mobile, and if the upward trend continues, it’ll remain mobile for some time to come.
Dressing up simple card color guessing as strategy? Feels like a sneaky wallet trap!