Everywhere you look across the convention floor at SXSW in Austin, Texas this year there are innovative startups and entrepreneurs touting everything from their latest social gaming experiment to Bitcoin initiatives.
But online and mobile gambling-related enterprises are few and far in between. And while this is somewhat understandable given that only three U.S. states have legalized online gambling within their borders, many tech entrepreneurs feel companies are missing a golden opportunity by not aggressively gearing up for the mobile gambling evolution that began in earnest last year in the U.S., notably in Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey.
As mGamingWatch first reported last week, recent projections put forward in a report titled “Mobile: The Future of Interactive Gambling” indicate that mobile is now inextricably linked to the growth of online gambling and, in particular, interactive gambling.
Growth is forecast to be many times that of any other interactive or land based gambling channel, the report estimates.
Mobile gambling has long since promised to deliver significant growth to the interactive gambling market this has been widely acknowledged over the last couple of years. However, this growth is not subsiding as some anticipated, in fact, it is continuing.
By the end of 2018, mobile is forecast to account for just under 44% of all interactive gambling.
“Following the prior mobile gambling report the channel has seen significant growth and is now of primary importance in any operator’s strategy,” the report summary reads. “Barriers to entry are now limited and markets around the world are capable in terms of networking infrastructure, device penetration and availability.”
So even though this nascent market was largely overlooked at SXSW 2014, there’s a good chance it won’t be at next year’s convention.
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