Betfair and Paddy Power figures show huge growth in the number of bets placed using mobile phones
Gambling via the new generation of smartphones such as Apple's iPhone is rising rapidly, according to figures from bookmaker Paddy Power and betting exchange Betfair. Paddy Power's chief operating officer Breon Corcoran said 34% of its active customers are now accessing the service through their phones, with its mobile revenues more than quadrupling during 2010.
Corcoran also outlined the growth in users. In January 2010, the company had 10,000 mobile customers. A year later in January 2011, this had increased to 50,000. Yet by April 2011, it had 120,000 mobile users, thanks to its apps for the iPhone, iPad and phone and tablets running Google's Android mobile software.
Independent figures released this week by IHS Screen Digest claim that net mobile gambling revenue in the UK rose from �19m in 2009 to �41m in 2010, with senior analyst Ronan De Renesse hailing "a new wave of speedy, glamorous mobile gambling applications" as the key factor in this growth.
Betfair ? which has had a troubled time on the stock market despite strong full-year figures ? said it has been prospering from mobiles, announcing that in its last financial year, it took more than �1bn in bets from mobile devices, and that 168,000 people placed a Betfair bet from their phones ? up 122% on the previous financial year ? while revenues from the company's mobile apps and mobile sites was up 88% year-on-year. "Developing new betting methods and experiences for the increasing amount of our customers who wish to access Betfair through their mobile phones is a key priority of the business," said Raj Vemulapalli, Betfair's vice president of mobile engineering.
The company is investing heavily in mobile, including launching next-generation mobile web apps for handsets running Google's Android software ? already the dominant platform worldwide ? and launching methods for outside app developers to integrate its betting exchange into their own apps. Those who do will get a 5% share of any revenues they generate.
Ever since the launch of 3G data services, there have been great expectations for mobile gambling; it was one of the "three G's" expected to make big money for mobile operators. (The other two were games and "girls", meaning adult content).
But the three content types experienced mixed fortunes in those early years after the operators launched their first 3G services. Games became a steady revenue stream, but operators struggled to convince more than 5% of customers to pay for them. Adult content did better once operators had age verification systems in place. But with the arrival of the iPhone in 2007, and a huge number of apps in 2008, games have become a huge source of downloads and revenues. Mobile adult services however have been sidelined by the approval policies of the store owners, especially Apple.
Yet mobile gambling is one of the few areas where Google has taken a harder line than Apple in terms of approvals of apps for its online app market. Apple has banned pornography, but this year began allowing real-money gambling apps at the App store for the first time. But Google has moved in the opposite direction ? leading Corcoran to take a friendly pop at Google for barring such apps from Android Market, where people with Android phones can buy apps on their phone or a desktop computer.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/30/gambling-on-smartphones-takes-off
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