Asia leads mobile gambling growth<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Singapore<\/p>\n
Asian punters will drive sharp growth in the mobile gambling
\nindustry over the next five years, with global revenues forecast
\nto top seven billion dollars a year by 2010, a research house
\nsaid on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Lotteries will remain the most popular form of mobile betting
\nand some 200 million people worldwide will be placing bets
\nthrough their phones by 2010, Informa Telecoms and Media said in
\na research summary made available to AFP.<\/p>\n
Mobile gambling is now estimated to generate US$1.2 billion in
\nannual revenues, with Europe as the leading market. Informa,
\nbased in London, said this would grow to $7.6 billion by 2010.<\/p>\n
\"Europe is likely to remain the largest market for mobile
\ngambling, generating $3.2 billion of annual revenues by 2010.
\nHowever, it will be closely followed by Asia-Pacific, which is
\nforecast to generate $2.7 billion by 2010,\" Informa said.<\/p>\n
North America \"is the great unknown\" because the size of the
\nmarket will depend on legalization of mobile gambling, but
\nInforma predicted it would be a billion-dollar industry in that
\nregion within five years.<\/p>\n
Telecom operators and the companies that run mobile gambling
\nservices will have to negotiate legislative, technological and
\ncultural hurdles to achieve growth, Informa said.<\/p>\n
\"Mobile gambling is already generating significant revenues,
\nbut there is room for sharp growth in the years ahead,\" said
\nStuart Dredge, the report's author.<\/p>\n
He said the industry \"must keep in mind its responsibilities
\nto tackle underage and problem gambling.\"<\/p>\n
The implementation of codes of conduct by operators to curb
\nsuch problems will be important, Informa said, citing Britain as
\na model.<\/p>\n
After lotteries, the other popular forms of mobile gambling
\nare sports betting and casino gaming.<\/p>\n
Casino gaming will become more popular as Internet casinos
\nmigrate their games to mobile platforms, Informa said.<\/p>\n
Sports betting will be a niche sector by comparison, although
\nbookmakers have been keen to launch mobile applications for their
\ncustomers, it added.<\/p>",
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