PricewaterhouseCoopers Playing to Win Mobile Gambling Market
PwC Mobile Gambling

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) analyzed trends in the online and mobile gambling industry in their new report, Playing to Win.

The fresh testimony from PwC is derived from prognostications of world-wide wagering and the resulting gross gambling revenue (after paying out player wins) until 2014.

Globally, the gambling industry, from traditional brick-and-mortar establishments to online and mobile casinos, has needed to endure a tough economic climate. In some areas declining gambling revenues have been much sharper than others. PwC sees power shifting from developed nations in the West to developing nations in the East.

According to PwC, the gambling industry of 2014 will have many similarities to the present. Big and illustrious gambling firms will still lead the industry. However, online and mobile gambling revenues will skyrocket, particularly in the Asia Pacific as spending power declines in the West and builds up in the East.

The largest variable will be regulatory complexity. These are more abundant on the internet than in the traditional casino sector and both of which weigh down online and mobile gambling operations.

Even today, within many particular jurisdictions, the governing laws and regulations are ambiguous and subject to multiple interpretations. This results in doubts, fears, and misunderstandings among gambling operators, gamblers, and other potential consumers.

The current legislation and regulatory frameworks further divide mobile and online gambling into six areas (1) Online casino gambling, (2) Online poker rooms, (3) Online bingo halls, (4) Online betting on horse races, (5) Online betting on other sports, such as football and basketball, and (6) Online lotteries.

Neither gambling operators nor potential players always understand whether legislation already passed for online casino games include mobile casino games. Some topics, such as betting on political events, may not even fit into these divisions.

UK Gaming Leader, David Trunkfield asserted “We believe that there will have to be an easing of the current restrictions. Consumers will engage in online gaming whether it’s legal or illegal and by legalising the industry, governments would recoup valuable tax revenues which are much needed following the impact of the financial crises on public sector finances…. We believe that the next five years will see an evolution rather than a revolution in the global gaming industry…. But as evolutions go it will be rapid and pervasive and far more sweeping than the change seen in the past decade.”