30/06/2011, Online casino

The Californian media company IHS Screen Digest has released a new report on the UK mobile gambling market. According to the report, the market for mobile gaming in the UK has doubled in 2010, as the rising respectability of online wagering and the proliferation of smartphones attracted new users.

The net mobile gambling revenue in the United Kingdom has hit £41 million last year, up from £19 million in 2009.
The UK Gambling Commission showed that the percentage of the UK population participating in remote gambling defined as wagering via the telephone, television, Internet, tied a record high of 13.7% in the fourth quarter of 2010, up from 9.8% four years earlier in the first quarter of 2007.

Ronan De Renesse, senior analyst and head of mobile at IHS, said “The full implementation of the 2005 UK Gambling Act in 2007 helped change the public perception of mobile gambling by allowing online betting sites to advertise their services on television and radio for the first time. During the past 12 months, there has been a rapid increase in advertising spending from mobile gambling operators and other wagering operations to promote their services. Partly because of this, the opinion of gambling has changed in the country.”

“No longer does gambling conjure an image of a smoky betting shop hidden from the public. Instead, betting has crafted itself into a respectable enterprise by using ad campaigns featuring the endorsements of sports pundits.
Today, consumers want a quick, good-looking application that provides additional content and allows them to place bets, spin a roulette wheel or buy a bingo ticket with the same level of ease that they currently can find online. As a result, a new wave of speedy, glamorous mobile gambling applications is emerging, which can be promoted in the wider media with ease. IHS expects this trend to continue.”