Juniper Research projects that annual mobile gambling wagers will surpass $48 billion by 2015, a significant amount by any standard.

For each particular subsector of mobile gambling, a proportion of this total will be retained by the lottery, sports book or casino in question. Nevertheless, mobile gambling will represent a multi-billion dollar industry, offering plenty of revenue-generating opportunities.

Mobile Commerce Daily’s Dan Butcher interviewed Dr. Windsor Holden, principal analyst at Juniper Research, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England, about his mobile gambling study. Here is what he had to say:

What is the key finding of the study?
Clearly, the surge in consumer smartphone adoption has provided an enormous boost to a host of mobile gambling services.

Those consumers are now far more comfortable about conducting financial transactions on their smartphones—witness the success of eBay Mobile—and thus one of the key barriers to mobile gambling has been steadily eroded as a result.

What is the most surprising finding, and why?
It is that multiplayer gambling simply is not working on mobile. All of the usage is from “snacking” applications, where consumers can multitask—watch TV and gamble, for example.

What is driving growth in the mobile gambling space?
As I mentioned, the smartphone boom has been a major driver – even though Apple has only recently begun to permit gambling applications in store, a fair number of providers have had success with browser-based applications.

What advice can you give to the mobile industry based on your findings?
Certainly for those seeking to deploy services in developed markets, it would be good to pursue a dual strategy of launching both browser-based and native applications for smartphones.

Those targeting emerging markets should seek to partner with local players and develop text-based services.

Final Take
Dan Butcher, associate editor, Mobile Commerce Daily