If we go back a decade ago, mobile gambling hardly contributed anything to the revenue of online operators. However, the sector has exploded phenomenally over the past few years. As per a report, people spending money on mobile iOS casino games have been rising significantly year after year.
The mobile gambling market will grow even more rapidly going forward as the United States Supreme Court gave a go-ahead to the legalisation of sports betting in the country, in May this year. Mobile gambling market is particularly robust in Australia and UK where a large majority of online gamblers choose their tablet PCs or smart phones to indulge in online casino games and sports bets. Innovative marketing methods such as signup bonuses and free bets are also contributing significantly to the rise of mobile gambling everywhere. Experts believe that there are couple of important factors that are contributing to this phenomenal growth. People already enjoy exploring different things on their mobile phones and this has given bookmakers and gaming providers instant access to a large customer base that was not so easily accessible earlier.
Redefining the gambling experience
Mobile applications offer a more interactive experience to the users and considering the fact that more and more people are using mobile devices to place bets on their favourite sports, even while being on the move, is a big positive for this industry. Mobile phones are changing the online gambling industry, and everything else in general, far more quickly than the providers had expected, creating the need of constant development of new technologies to offer seamless experience to users. Mobile phones are now perceived as a key channel for reaching out to new users, and to drive major growth in the online gambling industry. Having said that, it is essential for the online bookmakers and gaming providers to adopt various measures and ensure that everyone is offered the highest quality service.
Ways in which online gambling industry is evolving with mobile devices
Changing behaviour patterns
Research has revealed that mobile devices play a key role in the changing consumer behaviours. Here’s how the adoption of smartphones has shaped the consumer behaviour. As users are free to engage with their mobile phones in any environment, they have successfully conditioned themselves to switch their attention seamlessly between mobile gambling and other activities. Although this has enabled operators to reach out to customers more easily, it also means they need to work more to get the prospects’ attention.
Popularity among millennials
Quite surprisingly, millennials have proven to be one of the most difficult demographics to target for the online gambling operators. This despite the growing penetration of mobile devices in this market and the introduction of more and more cool features on iPhone, Android and other devices. Many operators started marketing free offers to younger adults, so as to make way into this demographic. The idea was to satisfy younger adults who will ultimately play for real money and also encourage their elders to do so.
Preference to mobile exclusive experience
If you look carefully you’d see that lesser and lesser number of people are using their laptops/desktops to access Internet these days. In fact, mobile device usage has significantly surpassed that of desktop. More and more people prefer betting and gambling on their mobile devices as compared to their desktops. As a result, many of these providers offer mobile exclusive experience to their patrons.