Mobile gambling foreseen as industry’s next boon
The popularity of cell phones – matched-up with the world’s love of gambling - looks to readying for a highly-profitable, long-term relationship.
According to findings released by Juniper Research, the next five years will see a boom in bets placed via mobile telephones – in excess of $23 billion U.S. by 2011, up from the current $2 billion U.S. Consumers growing familiarity with the prospect of being able to gamble on virtually anything – at any time – will see the phones become a widely-used tool for wagering with mobile lotteries expected to account for more than 41 percent of the action. Sports betting is being looked upon as the second-highest benefactor in the expected trend.
Further, the advent and proliferation of 3G (or third-generation) technology in phones - which allows for richer media capabilities and services beyond the transmission of standard voice data such as the downloading of information, instant messaging and exchanging email – is expected to help introduce owners to the realm of mobile casino games as well, predicts Juniper. Recently, games such as black jack, poker, roulette and slots were added to the menu of entertainment services by the Las Vegas Venetian hotel-casino (following regulation approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission) that enables gambling on mobile devices in any public area of the state’s casinos.
The research firm foresees the Asian-Pacific market to be the most-accepting during this upswing, followed by various European markets such as the United Kingdom and Ireland. The United States will most likely be bringing up the rear in the trend, however, with legislative restrictions throughout the region cited as the main drag. Nonetheless, Juniper foresees the U.S. market jumping to $3.3 billion by 2011. Similarly, the Asian-Pacific region is forecast to hit $8.8 billion U.S. from the current $966 million, with Europe growing to $7.9 million from the current $950 million.
Despite the hype, however, several obstacles must be overcome by the gambling industry – such as regulation, application development and age verification - for the predictions to truly have an authentic chance of reaching the promised levels of fruition. A public relations battle against opponents such as Andrew Poole of the problem-gambler U.K. charity Gamecare is also ahead, who is encouraging further measures such as limits on play time as well as deposits in order to reduce the threat of problem gambling. Poole added that despite people already having access to wagering at any time via their home computer, this latest avenue could pose the biggest temptation yet for those prone to gambling addiction, given the any-place, any-time possibilities.
posted by Rex Harris