Mobile is taking an increasing bite out of our lives - there is no longer any place safe zone from someone next to you texting, gaming, surfing or worse, yapping incessantly about God knows what.
I think the next horizon or maybe distraction for many will be gambling on smartphones.
Frankly, I see little difference between someone spending hours on Candy Crush with an associated "cost" in lost productivity or R and R time, or playing poker online on a phone, which is legal in Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey.
Lest we forget, we have over 500 Indian owned casinos here in the U.S., which is highly regulated by the National Indian Gaming Commission. Regulated or not, anyone in all 50 states has access to gambling, some with 15-20 minute drive from virtually every major metropolitan area in the U.S.
"Traditional" gaming companies are quickly moving from online gaming to online gambling and much of the latter is via a phone. Bandwidth is cheap, smartphones are ubiquitous: by 2016 it's estimated over 2 billion people will have smartphones.
Zynga attempted to build a mobile friendly casino in partnership with Bwin Party, a digital entertainment company based in Gibraltar, publicly held on the UK exchange, with a multi billion dollar revenue stream and strategic partnerships with three Indian Tribes here in the U.S.
But, to date has been unsuccessful with it's first generation site, Zygna Plus Casino, which is closing down. I would expect them to come back to the table with joint ventures with Indian Tribes here in the U.S. and possibly other online sites targeted for consumers outside the U.S.
The Market for Mobile Gambling is Huge and Growing
Global revenues from online gambling via pure play sites like TitanBet or BetWay leading the fray is projected to be over $35 billion this year, with mobile gambling estimated to be over $100 billion by 2017.
Zygna, King, Wynn Resorts (Steve Wynn), The Las Vegas Sands (Sheldon Addelson) and possibly Facebook are not going to stay parked on the sidelines, as more states soften their gambling positions and smartphone growth reaches astronomical proportions.
The market opportunity is too large and the the only real barriers to entry facing "traditional gaming" companies and an array of Las Vegas and Macau based casinos, all of which are multi billion dollar extremely profitable companies, is the antiquated Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006
Current Laws will not Withstand a Strong Push by Lobbyists
The law doesn't really address tangible issues, it was just a "rider" on a port security bill and was used to shutoff the flood of web based poker, sports books and games of chance sites like Bodog, Full Tilt Poker and Poker Stars. All were shut down with the exception of Poker Stars.
The legality of the law and it's enforcement is full of holes: it prevents the transfer of funds, not online gambling. As long as financial institutions believe in the structure of the law it will be difficult for a commercial entity to get around the legislation.
But, it's a weak law and once an onslaught of lobbyists go after its legality I would expect it to fall. As web growth goes, so will go gaming, gambling and doing anything with a smartphone, as long as it's not harmful to another.
There is too much reward baked in to smartphone gaming and I would wager by 2020 (or sooner) you will have to put up with that person next to you shouting bingo and possibly broadcasting a Periscope enabled hologram of a blackjack hand. Stay tuned and connected, or maybe not.
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