CalvinAyre.com’s Rebecca Liggero talks to mGage’s Rogier van den Heuvel about the opportunities for mobile gambling in the Netherlands.
The mobile gambling industry in the Netherlands is picking up, despite the presence of regulatory issues in the country.
“Mobile gaming is picking up pretty fast,” mGage’s Rogier van den Heuvel told CalvinAyre.com. “Of course, there is some regulatory issues but if you look at the mobile penetration, it’s pretty high in the Netherlands both in smartphone and tablets, and it means that gaming is picking up very fast the last, let’s say, two, three years.”
Van den Heuvel believes this presents a good opportunity for lottery operators in the country that will want to take advantage of the mobile technology.
“If you look at right now what the lottery is doing not much in mobile, so there’s a huge opportunity for them to go in there. I think they can learn quite a lot from other countries where the market is more regulated,” he explained.
A lot of people are saying 2015 is the year for mobile, what with everything mobile-related is exploding at the moment. But Van den Heuvel said the popularity of mobile technology surged way before that.
“The year of mobile was not 2014 or 2015. It was, I think, even in 2013 because people now spend more time on mobile than on their desktop or on their laptop,” he noted.
The smartphone penetration means people go online using apps, which, in turn, is a chance for Dutch operators to develop good apps that will “give the people very good user experience.”
“In the Netherlands, because it’s not regulated, there’s a lot of space. And in one or two years, I think, that will be the most growth in the Netherlands on app and in the app stores,” Van den Heuvel said.
Mobile technology, however, is not just about smartphones.
“In two years, I expect a lot from virtual reality. I’ve seen so many examples of Oculus Rift, of the Google Cardboard, and with the 360-degree experience that you could have as a consumer, for instance, in casino, that’s great,” Van den Heuvel said. “It will take, of course, one or two years before it really picks up, but I expect that both in virtual reality and augmented reality, [and] wearables as well, will give some interesting new business models.”
