Interactive
UK – Mobile gaming booms in 2014 according to App Annie
By Phil - 12 January 2015
The mobile gambling market is experiencing a meteoric rise, as the online gambling industry jumps on mobile as a key channel for expansion.
According to data from App Annie Intelligence, worldwide revenue from the iOS Casino game subcategory increased 55 per cent in the 12 months to November 2014, with the UK presenting a significant slice of this growth.
In its new spotlight report focussed on the UK casino gaming market, App Annie reveals the UK is outpacing worldwide Casino subcategory growth for downloads and revenues. Between November 2013 to November 2014 in the UK, the Casino subcategory exceeded 60 per cent revenue growth and experienced approximately 10% growth in downloads, while Worldwide remained flat. Despite consolidation, the revenue from the Casino subcategory became less concentrated within the top 10 companies over the past year, indicating the market is still open to new and rising competitors. However, the top 10 companies in the Casino subcategory still generated the majority of revenue, producing around 65 per cent of the subcategory revenue in November 2014.
“The United Kingdom is one of the key markets for mobile casino gaming publishers, as it is one of the few that offers real money gambling through iOS App Store apps,” explained Olivier Bernard, VP EMEA at App Annie. “For the mobile casino gaming industry, apps are becoming a key channel as they offer substantial benefits in user experience over mobile web. By allowing alerts and reminders, apps can give a level of engagement not possible with web-based gaming. As a result, mobile casino gaming has experienced significant growth over the last year.”
According to the report, the top companies in the UK mobile casino gaming market are primarily specialist social gaming or casino gaming publishers, rather than bookmakers that have expanded to the sector. The top games across the iOS and Google Play Casino game subcategory were generally well-established apps released several years ago, but showed a consistent trend for regular updates to introduce new gameplay features and optimise user experiences.
