Juniper Research: Mobile betting is recession-proof; Set to hit $3.6 billion in 2009

Juniper Research’s latest report titled “Mobile Gambling: Casinos, Lotteries and Betting (5th edition)” argues that despite global economic recession, mobile gambling will perform strongly in 2009.

In addition, the report found that total wagers on mobile phones will more than double in 2009, reaching more than $3.6 billion, where as user spending on mobile TV and mobile games will be adversely impacted by the global economic downturn.

According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, gambling is essentially a recession-proof industry, and the overall appetite for gambling per se will be unaffected. “Furthermore, with the growing availability of betting services on-portal, the mobile is an increasingly convenient and user-friendly means of placing a bet,” he added.

However, the report noted that regulatory restrictions remained a key impediment to mass adoption, and argued that national and state governments needed to implement a transparent framework governing all forms of mobile gambling services.

Other findings include:

• Mobile betting will account for 75% of all gambling on mobile handsets in 2008, with casino-type gambling the second-largest sector.
• The UK alone will account for more than 30% of bets placed in 2008, although this proportion will decline to just 8% by 2013 due to increased deployment of services elsewhere.
• Global gross win from mobile betting services is expected to exceed $1 billion annually by 2012.

More information about Juniper’s report is available from their website.