Analyst firm, Juniper Research have predicted that global mobile phone gambling will reach £12 billion by 2010. The figure appears to be down on last year’s prediction by Juniper that mobile phone gambling would hit £23 billion by 2011 but is still a significant increase on the figure of $2 billion in 2005.
The findings are based upon the increasing availability of multiple mobile payment technologies together with the liberalisation of remote gambling laws in key markets, like in the UK where the Gambling Act came into force on 1st September. Laws are also expected to change in other European markets, which will fuel the growth in mobile gambling.
The most popular form of mobile gambling is predicted to be mobile lotteries, with 380 million users by 2010. These are already widespread in the Far East and are predicted to be more widely available in Europe and even the United States should the law change.
Juniper Research’s author of the report Dr Windsor Holden commenting on mobile lotteries said, “Mobile lotteries have already experienced significant levels of adoption in the Far East, while European state lotteries will increasingly embrace the mobile environment in the medium term.
The report also indicates that in the long term the United States will also be a key market for mobile gambling. It is likely to leapfrog over the United Kingdom as the largest market for mobile gambling services by 2012.
However, under the current Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) mobile gambling is illegal, but Dr Holden expects this law to be overturned.
Dr Holden said, “The intimations from the US are that the act will be repealed or at least reformed.”
“Should that be the case in-state mobile lotteries, betting and possibly casino services will be available in that market by 2010 facilitated by location-based technologies.”
The US government could change its mind on the UIGEA, after the Gambling Prevalence Study in the UK, found that the rise in internet gambling hasn’t increased the number of problem gamblers.
The report has also found that worldwide gross winnings from mobile gambling will surge from $106 million in 2007 to a massive $3.2 billion in 2012.
