Wearable computing is at the forefront of every conversation these days when it comes to predicting the next big thing in mobile. As it turns out, however, the next big thing might already be here. According to a new report issued on Tuesday by market research firm Juniper Research, gambling is in the process of becoming the next monster mobile market. Be it sports betting, mobile casinos or various lotteries, Juniper says that 64 million people will use mobile devices to gamble in 2013 and that figure will balloon to 164 million in 2018. Interestingly, Juniper believes that strong growth in North America will drive the market — while mobile gambling adoption as been slow thus far in the U.S. due to regulatory issues, Juniper believes recent and ongoing legislative changes along with successful launches in Nevada and New Jersey will be the start of accelerated growth in the U.S. In a previous report, the firm estimated that revenue from mobile gambling would surpass $100 billion in 2017. Juniper’s full press release follows below.
Mobile Gambling User Numbers to rise by 100mn Over Next Five Years, Finds Juniper Research
US market opens up while consumers elsewhere migrate from desktop gaming
Hampshire, UK – 3rd December 2013: Over the next five years, the number of mobile and/or tablet owners using their devices to gamble will increase by 100 million, meaning that 164 million people will either place a bet, visit a mobile casino or buy a lottery ticket on their device in 2018. These findings come from Juniper Research’s latest report on mobile gambling, which highlighted that the strongest growth would come from the North American market.
Remote Gambling in the US: Open for Business
According to the report – Mobile Gambling: Casinos, Lotteries and Betting 2013-2018 – although growth has been slow in the US since the DoJ (Department of Justice) ruling in 2011, the number of users in the region is expected to pick up sharply from 2014 onwards. This will occur as states which have not yet fully legislated on remote gambling make progress following successful services launching in Nevada and New Jersey. In addition, inter-state poker, where two players in separate, regulated markets play against each other, is likely to become a reality in the medium term, further driving mobile/tablet gambling usage.
Users Desert Legacy Gambling Channels
The report highlighted that the majority of these users would be switching to mobile gambling from desktop services. It attributed this migration to the fact that many features of gambling work better on a mobile device than a PC. For example, in-play betting on a mobile device does not disrupt a user’s experience when watching a live sports match, and dual-screen options on tablet casino games can enhance gameplay.
Report author, Siân Rowlands, observed that ‘mobile can frequently provide a more immersive and convenient gambling experience than a desktop PC or laptop. As a result of this, gambling operators have been required to shift the nature of their organisation away from “legacy” services such as telephone betting towards becoming a more mobile-oriented company, with the aim of achieving over half of their online revenues from mobile in the next 1-3 years.’
The ‘Mobile Gambling ~ A Smart Bet’ whitepaper is available to download from the Juniper website together with further details of the full report.
