Your very own casino-apps

We talk about the increasing popularity gaming apps all the time… but what about mobile casino apps?

In a few years, the App Store is going to be teeming with casino applications. There will even be a separate category for all the latest gambling software that money can buy. Probably. Right now, if we type in “casino” into the App Store search engine, 146 results are displayed, but according to predictions (like that of MarketWatch,) this number is prone to increase in the next couple of years. Broken down to the figures presented by Eilers Research, the social casino market this year will reach USD 3.5 billion. In 2014, this figure was USD 2.8 billion.

This means that the mobile casino market gained almost a billion dollars in a year. That is a HUGE number, counting in the fact that it is only a smaller part of the mobile game sector. The income that social casinos gain comes mainly from smartphone users: they make up 61% of all the revenue. What about dominant competitors on the virtual market? Well, according to the website MarketWatch, we have Caesars Interactive Entertainment that threw “Slotomania” on the virtual shelves, International Game Technology that came out with “DoubleDOwn Casino,” Zynga with “Hit It Rich!” and last but not least, Scientific Games that developed “Jackpot Party.”

Tapinator just released “Video Poker VIP”

Tapinator anticipated the popularity shift to mobile gambling apps, and came up with a creative way to promote video games based on poker. They took the most famous and loved video poker games and transformed them so that smartphone users can play them on their phones. The games, such as Jacks or Better and Bonus Poker, are well thought-out and offer a wide array of worlds to play in, levels to achieve, experience points to collect and gifts. CEO of Tapinator is optimistic about results, “We believe that the game is the highest quality video poker title on mobile. We will continue to improve the game, with version 1.1 launching in the next several weeks.”

Tapinator CEO Ilya Nikolayev also added that the company will be curious to see the reactions of the public and is open to constructive feedback.
Releasing social casino apps nowadays does, in fact, seem to be paying off: from November 2013 to November 2014, there was a 55% increase in people buying casino apps on the App Store. Here, we’re talking about games in which people can’t win real money. So, people spend money to gamble, even though they know that there is no chance on God’s green Earth that they will be winning any money at all. None, whatsoever. Lucrative business for casino companies, isn’t it?

Real money gambling is gaining momentum

Apparently, online gambling business opportunities are on the verge of rising for companies, like Zynga. They launched real-money gambling apps in collaboration with Bwin.party. They wish to motivate players by offering them prizes such as stays in a casino hotel. According to the website Games Beat, once the market is opened up for real money gambling, things will accelerate. By 2017, the overall revenue for the casino application sector will be around USD 100 billion. To be able to grasp just how large an amount that is: mobile gaming was said to bring in USD 21 billion in 2014, while console gaming brought in USD 55 billion.

App Annie reported, “online gambling industry heavyweight PokerStars saw over 50 percent of new registrations come through mobile channels. Mobile is now a key channel for expansion to new users, driving considerable growth of the online gambling industry as a whole. A prominent position in the mobile market is, therefore, likely to translate to growth in other sectors for gambling.” It is predicted that the major market players will focus on the United Kingdom, because online gambling is legal there. It will be exciting to see where this all leads and whether the projected USD 100 billion will be accomplished.