It is quite difficult to talk about online gambling without talking about mobile gaming. Once a mere bleep on the radar, mobile gaming has now become an essential part of the industry and also represents one of the fast growing sections. Predictions for the next five years indicate that mobile gaming will continue to grow and that its role in the iGaming industry will only become more important.
On the other hand, some can argue that mobile is already here since there are enough growth statistics to back these claims up.
Mobile online casinos
A good portion of the leading online casinos have already launched their mobile product and those which are still only available online, are probably looking for ways to go on the move. Casino games aim to keep the same level of entertainment obtained from a regular online casino on a computer but offer it for the smaller screen of a smartphone or a tablet. In the process, the games can lose some of their design elements but they have to maintain most of the features which made players interested in them in the first place.
Nowadays, it is quite easy to get started. As long as you have a smartphone with an internet connection, you simply need to find a good online casino with a mobile platform and start playing. Some casinos require a small download on the mobile device while others can be simply started by accessing the website with a smartphone. The casino will change automatically to suit the different platform and players can use the same accounts in order to play.
Some of the most common payment methods can now be accessed from mobile devices so players can easily add funds to their online gaming accounts, play their preferred games and cash out the winnings; all from a smartphone.
Software providers focus on mobile
The mobile gaming growth can also be seen in the development of more and more titles for smartphones by the leading software providers in the industry. This is very important as their success can very well be determined by their mobile performance over the next few years.
The trend for online casinos is to include multiple software providers for their gaming offer in order to have a richer variety of games. However, the model isn’t quite prominent for mobile casinos and choosing the software provider can be a big decision when looking to take casino games on the go.
As far as Micro-gaming goes, there is still some speculation involved since it a private company among many public ones. The main element to consider from Microgaming is its special line of mobile products, which despite the fact that it hasn’t been performing as well as expected in the past few years, keeps seeing major new additions, most of which have already seen success online.
Playtech has certainly developed its mobile product recently and its revenues from mobile devices tripled last year to leave the company in a great position for this year and the years to come. The mobile channel from Playtech includes casino, sports betting, poker and bingo and it increased by 115% last year. Mobile casino revenues alone went up by 212% to reach almost 13 million euro in 2023.
Net Entertainment has the tendency to create games which look like works of art and this doesn’t translate that well on the smaller screens with a lower quality. However, its Touch series show quite the opposite as these games are highly impressive, especially the slots. The fact that the company is willing to have its products hosted alongside other providers means that it has a lot of potential to reach a great number of players, regardless of the device they choose to use.
Competition or cooperation?
While some see mobile gaming as competition for regular computer internet gambling, the truth is that they can work really well if they cooperate. Mobile gaming is generally preferred while on the move and playing from a computer remains the popular option due to the better details on the bigger screen.
Mobile will simply help the industry grow while not taking away anything from the actual gaming experience which so many players enjoy.
