Mobile gaming market to reach $100 billion by 2017

CANADA: Lucky Nugget, one of the largest and most popular casinos to operate in Canada, can confirm the mobile gaming market is set to reach $100 billion in just five years. The market is fuelled by the expansion of the smartphone market along with an increase in gaming and gambling apps and mobile-enabled online casinos.

Eighty-five percent of the Canadian population uses a cellphone, which is almost 26 million people and 45 percent of these cellphone users own a smartphone. As much as 50 percent of Canada’s mobile population uses the Internet on a regular basis, most do so to use downloaded apps – 85 percent of smartphone users – and many of these apps are games.

As online casino sites look to expand and attract new users, mobile is becoming increasingly important. Not only do the best online casino sites now offer mobile-enabled pages, where content is designed specifically for cellphones – adapted to smaller screens etc – they are also developing apps which can be downloaded to offer 24/7 gaming on the go.

Mobile gaming takes all the benefits of online gambling one step further. When online casinos first came into existence they offered greater flexibility, choice and inclusivity when compared to land-based casinos that were restrictive, exclusionary and often thousands of miles away from where a player lived and worked.

Mobile gambling enhances online gaming by yet another degree. Players can place bets on the train during their commute to work, whilst watching TV at home or even during their lunch breaks. Choice has been greatly expanded at the same time and in a bid to make things mobile friendly, sites have become more user-friendly too. The result is that mobile gambling is even easier and more flexible and diverse than online casino gambling.

Of course there is still a place for regular online casinos, just as there is for land-based casinos. A diversified market offers maximum choice and thus appeals to an even greater numbers of players. Plus, new players can be attracted by these other mediums; mobile gamers may want to upgrade to online games and may even progress to land-based gaming in the future.