Mobile Phone Gambling on the Rise
29 September 2005

Without question, online gambling via mobile phone has skyrocketed since it first debuted. In fact, the number of betting pages that have been downloaded are anticipated to reach the 3 million mark by the end of this year. That means there has been a 367 percent increase since 2004.

This research was conducted by Mintel, a global supplier of media, consumer and market research, who concluded through their study that there is cause for concern when it comes to mobile phone gambling. They believe that this new form of technology that provides people with unlimited access to gambling will cause a huge hike in gambling addiction.

Mintel, which is based out of London, Chicago, Belfast and Sydney, conducted more research on Britain’s mobile phone fanatics, and discovered that when all is said a done, these junkies will blow an astounding £740 million on phone downloads in this year alone! When factored into the total amount of £40 million that was spent back in 2002, the total sum for 2005 will equal 18 times that amount.

Gambling downloads for mobile phones does not account for the vast majority of phone downloads, but it has certainly seen the biggest area of growth. Aside from Ring tone which makes up a 3rd of all downloads, the total cost of downloads for mobile phones is also comprised of the following popular features:

- Arcade-type games = 26 percent
- Wallpapers and screensavers = 13 percent
- Gambling = 9 percent
- Music = 8 percent

When you stop to think about it, it’s amazing how much money is spent on mobile phones every year. What’s more amazing is the fact that Mintel’s study only covered Britain’s mobile phone users…just imagine how much money is spent on downloads when you factor in the rest of the world.