Mobile gambling boom time ahead

The worldwide explosion in gambling, both online and offline, is set to see a further surge as the number of people gambling via their mobile phones looks ready to increase dramatically over the next five years.

The popularity of internet sports betting has grown prolifically over the past five years and the recent boom in online casino gaming has added further fervour to the global gambling phenomenon.

As consumers grow accustomed to being able to gamble any time, any place, any where, it seems mobile phones are also set to become an increasingly important tool in the gambler's arsenal.

Juniper Research expects bets placed over mobile phone applications to rise from just under $2bn currently to in excess of $23bn by 2011, according to a forecast released today.

Lotteries are going to be the primary driver, as more users are turned on to low stakes gaming on their mobile phones. Juniper predicts mobile lotteries will account for 41 per cent of mobile gambling expenditure within five years.

The growth in 3G subscriptions as well as the introduction of increasingly sophisticated handsets with greater rich media capabilities will also make casino games a more attractive handheld offering, Juniper predicts.

But that won't be good news for everybody, especially those opposed to a 24x7 culture of gambling in the UK and the problems it creates, such as debt and related issues among gambling addicts.

Andrew Poole, a spokesman for charity Gamcare, which works to help problem gamblers, told silicon.com he believes gambling in the UK is already 24x7 thanks to the internet, though he admitted it could be more problematic if gamblers are even able to gamble while they are out and about, away from their computers.

Although Poole said take-up for text versions of the National Lottery has been low, instant win games such as casino games "are a harder form of gambling and are more addictive in their nature".

As such, he said it is important that as operators rush to create and meet demand for mobile gambling they also include responsible measures and adhere to codes of practice, such as limits on deposits or time which players can play for, to reduce the threat of problem gambling.