Juniper Research estimate that social gambling and the introduction of intrastate casino and lottery are set to drive mobile wagers to approximately $100 billion by 2017. The report, entitled ‘Mobile Gambling: Casinos, Lotteries & Betting 2012-2017’, makes the heady assertions off the back of the U.S. wire act being repealed and also the gains being made by firms like Zynga.
Author of the report, Dr Windsor Holden, commented: “Social gaming companies such as Zynga are seeking to move from play-for-fun casino games into real money gambling, while pureplay mobile casinos including Probability have begun to integrate with the Facebook mobile platform. In this way, consumers will be able to use their social networks to register for casino games, substantially increasing both the reach and engagement of such services.”
Sports betting, which already accounts for a growing amount of wagers, will be “overhauled” by casino gambling inside five years. Much of this hinges on the U.S. market hitting the figures being quoted and it also being able to legislate successfully on an intrastate context.
WHERE IS THE LOVE?
Asia is one part of the world that will be wondering where the love is as there is no mention of what effect mobile gambling or casino could have in that part of the world in the press release. Given the growth the rest of the industry is realizing in this part of the world the $100 billion projection for 2017 is slightly pessimistic. Mobile penetration is huge in both Europe and North America but Asia will also see this growth filter through.
If you look at China as an example, the country has seen an insane level of growth in the number of people buying internet ready mobile phones with the number expected to boost the total amount online to 701 million by 2015. To put that into context it’s double the U.S. and Japan combined and still just 51 percent of the population. You can see then that if mobile gambling starts to take hold the opportunities are endless.
FROM RETENTION TO ACQUISITION
Another change identified by the report is that mobile will move from a retention to an acquisition one in the next few years. The same was being discussed at the recent mGaming Summit in London and would mean the movement towards mobile will get even stronger.
Social gambling, which was mentioned by Holden as a factor linked to mobile growth, will be a huge factor and the two married together could determine how big mobile casino becomes. Put this together with Asia and the growth experienced will be endless.
