Gambling using the mobile phone will experience tremendous growth globally, with the Asia Pacific region leading the growth among all regions, a new study suggests.
Total mobile gambling revenues, involving casinos, lotteries and betting, in the Asia-Pacific region are set to rise from $966 million in 2006 to $8.8 billion come 2011, according to the latest industry report by Juniper Research.
According to Juniper, during this period Asia Pacific will be the largest geographic market, followed by Europe, with North America, South America a considerable way behind.
Asia Pacific and Europe will contribute similar revenues in the next five years accommodating a different business mix, and like Asia Pacific, Europe will see a substantial rise in total revenues, or the value of bets placed, from $950 million in 2006 to $7.9 billion by 2011.
In comparison, North America, where legislation permits mobile gambling, will rise from zero revenue in 2006 to over $3.3 billion by 2011. South America will grow from $34 million to $1.33 billion.
Juniper's forecasts factor in a number of potential drivers and constraints.
Bruce Gibson, Research Director at Juniper Research states: 'Among the advantages of the mobile channel is the impetus provided by the continued and unparalleled growth of the mobile communications subscriber base in Asia Pacific which is forecast to exceed 1.3 billion users by 2011.'
Juniper also cites the desire to gamble in sectors of the population, the speed of advancing mobile networks and handset technology.
'Globally revenues are set to rise -- in part -- thanks to the inherent advantages of mobile communications in terms of convenience and pervasiveness,' Gibson said.
However the mobile gambling market is perhaps as its nature suggests, difficult to predict.
According to Juniper, figures for the adoption of mobile gambling services and ultimately revenue could substantially increase on current forecasts, if more liberal gambling environments are introduced in key regions in the near future. - cellular-news.com