It seems hard to believe now, but people have only been playing poker online since the 1990s. That was the decade that saw the widespread launch of online casinos and casino gaming is now a more mainstream activity than it has ever been.
First online and then mobile gambling is what made that happen. The sheer convenience that they promised made playing poker and the various other games seem so much more accessible.
Mobile gambling in particular means that people are not tied to any location if they want to play some poker. That arguably makes it the single biggest game-changer for the casino industry.
Poker is generally played on mobiles using special apps created by the casino sites. These provide an experience that has been optimised to mobile screens, which is another factor in its success.
Now let us take a closer look at mobile poker and its rise.
Online Poker Success
Online and mobile poker are the same thing – it is just that the former is the term for people who play on laptop or desktop computers rather than phone apps. Therefore, the success of the online poker industry tells us a lot about the rise of mobile poker.
And it really is a remarkable success. The value of the online poker industry was $82.6 billion two years ago and it has gone up since then. Projecting ahead and this industry is forecast to experience even more astonishing growth between now and the end of the decade.
The value of it is expected to be $237.5 billion by 2030. That would be a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.5% during that six-year period.
This growth is being fuelled by the emergence of new sites that offer poker games and tournaments. The only bump in the road that the industry has experienced came 13 years ago when some of the biggest sites were closed down by the US Department of Justice. This only applied in the US, but that is one of the largest online poker markets, so it had an effect.
The industry bounced back though and one of the things that helped with that was the development of mobile poker apps. The rapid growth of those apps was aided by advances in mobile technology.
The Impact of the Smartphone
It was mainly Smartphone technology that made mobile poker popular. Around four out of every five mobile users has a Smartphone and many of them are designed with gaming in mind. The superior specifications of these phones – for example bigger screen displays and intuitive touch-screen controls rather than awkward keypads – have made playing games like poker on them much better.There are roughly 5.44 billion users of these phones now and that is a big market that poker apps are tapping into.
Other Key Reasons for Mobile Poker Rise
The better playing experience that the Smartphone offers is definitely the single biggest reason why mobile poker is on the rise. It is not the only one though.
– Convenience
As we explained in the introduction, playing poker online was much more convenient than playing in the real world. Well mobile poker takes that another step forward, because a Smartphone is more portable than a laptop. It allows people to integrate poker gaming into their everyday lives very easily.
– Affordability
A second reason why mobile poker apps are on the rise is that they are the most affordable way to play the game. That is because the apps frequently offer players lower poker game buy-ins compared with the games on the main websites.
– Sociability
Many of the apps come with features built into them that are designed to make playing mobile poker more sociable. They range from chat functions to ones that let people link up with friends or participate in multi-player poker tournaments.
What Does the Future Hold?
Given the predicted rise in the value of the online poker industry during the remainder of the decade, there is a strong chance that mobile poker will continue to grow too. The industry is looking into various exciting innovations that would further improve the experience for players.
One of these is synchronisation across multiple platforms. That would let people move between a laptop, tablet and Smartphone when using a poker app; meaning they could start a game at home and continue even if they had to leave the house midway through.
Another intriguing possibility is mobile poker games that incorporate virtual reality technology. This would enable people to play the games, for example, in an immersive simulation of a Wild West saloon bar.
Mobile poker is rising in popularity all the time because its convenience coupled with the power of the Smartphone makes for a great way to play the game.