The Evolution of Mobile Casinos in the UK is Explored

When we first started writing about mobile gambling in the UK, around 25% of all gambling in the UK was done through mobile. A few years later, it was edging on 50%. While we don’t have up-to-date stats, we wouldn’t be surprised if the number is getting closer to the 80-90% mark, if not even higher. Mobile gambling is here to stay, and online casinos are raking in the money thanks to it.

On this page, we take a look at the evolution of mobile casinos in the UK. We discuss how and why mobile gambling is now so popular.

The start of mobile casinos in the UK

We must admit that we weren’t gambling at the start of mobile casinos in the UK, but we do know that the earliest offerings in this space were rather rudimentary.

It was in 1999 that the very first phones with proper internet connectivity came onto the market. They were expensive, and websites needed to be developed especially for mobile devices. They were almost all text and called WAP sites.

Not too long later, online casino games started to be launched for mobile devices, although they were exceedingly basic. If you owned a Nokia phone around that time, you might have downloaded a game or two. They would have been hard to play, and they were not the best way to gamble.

However, the fact that online casino games started to come out this early in the world of internet-connected mobile devices demonstrated that mobile gambling would become a big thing, even if most gamblers would never have touched those games.

The main driver of mobile casinos in the UK

It was the launch of smartphones running iOS and Android in the early 2000s that was the main driver behind the evolution of mobile casinos in the UK. Even now, every one of the top mobile casinos you find at places like newcasinos.com/mobile/ is compatible with both iOS and Android.

Some casinos will have a native app that you can download from the app stores, while all of them will have a mobile site where you can play nearly 100% of their games through your mobile browser. There may be a few older casino games that don’t work, but many platforms are now starting to remove them.

The introduction of smartphones meant multiple things for the mobile casino gaming industry:

• Casino games looked better on these devices. They weren’t like the mobile games of a decade or so prior, which were pixelated or text-based monstrosities. Mobile games now look very similar to the games that you can play on your desktop computer.
• Online casino game developers rarely need to develop games specifically for mobile devices. Many of the games that work on desktop computers are adapted to work on mobile devices with a bit of tinkering. This means that there are way more options for online gamblers.
• Mobile games are now easier to access than ever. You don’t need to jump through hoops to play games. Most of the time, there is no external software that needs to be downloaded. You just play them on your device, often through your web browser.
• Many people don’t want to boot up their computer to play casino games, and many people have started to ditch their computers. Since their smartphones and tablets are always on, they can often jump into casino games in a couple of seconds.

Not all these changes have happened at once. Some online casinos, particularly the more traditional ones, were somewhat slow on the uptake when it came to introducing mobile versions of their games. However, everything has happened quickly. Within five or six years of mobile gambling becoming available through smartphones, nearly every single platform offered a way to gamble via mobile. Investment into the tech improved when companies saw how much money it was making them.

Improved payment method options

While there are no public graphs that explicitly show the correlation between the increase in mobile gamblers and more accessible payment options, we believe that there is a correlation. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if online casinos have the data to back this up. This is evident as online casinos are starting to introduce more and more mobile-friendly payment methods, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Pay by Mobile.

The fact that you no longer need to input your payment details every single time you want to gamble online using your mobile device has probably driven growth in the business. If you have an Apple device, you have Apple Pay with your payment details saved. If you have an Android device, chances are that you’re using Google Pay. It now takes seconds to deposit at online casinos.

Why mobile casinos are so popular among British gamblers

So, why have mobile casinos become so popular among British gamblers? Well, let’s put aside the fact that the UK is one of the largest gambling nations in the world, and that our economy relies heavily on gambling, with many top games and gaming companies based here. Instead, let’s look at why so many people have turned to mobile casinos. What has driven this rise?:

• Better access to games: Mobile tech is considerably better now than it was a decade or so ago. Nearly every single game is now available to play on mobile devices. Better access to games means more people are likely to gamble via their mobile devices.
• Better game experience: The game experience is considerably better too. This means smoother gameplay, faster gameplay, more special effects and features in games. Some older devices may still have a bit of gameplay lag on newer games, but the vast majority of online casino games should offer a tremendous playing experience on mobile.
• Gambling on the go: British people love to gamble. Having games in the palm of your hand means that you can gamble whenever, and wherever you want. You’d be surprised at how many people are just getting a couple of slot machine spins in on their morning commute. A lot of people gambling on mobile devices are not gambling day in and day out. They gamble a couple of quid a week, at most.
• Better internet connections: Better mobile internet access has increased the quality of games available, where people can gamble and even improved access to live dealer games.
• Ease of gameplay: Smartphones have been designed to be intuitive. In our experience, it is much easier to jump into, and play, casino games on your mobile device than it is on an actual computer.

On top of this, the rise in mobile casinos has also been supported by a rise in the number of companies offering, and advertising, their gambling platforms. This is also likely drawing a lot more people into the business, and since most people have a smartphone or tablet nowadays, jumping into mobile casinos seems to be the ‘go to’ when they do want to start gambling.

How we see the future of mobile casinos in the UK

Mobile casinos are the future in the UK. We anticipate that every single company will divert the majority of their development resources towards mobile play. Expect better quality mobile games, a better casino experience and more gamblers than ever before. We won’t say that desktop computer gambling will be put on the back burner, as that is unlikely. It just won’t be a priority since that is no longer how most online gamblers play.