The Rise of Mobile Gambling in the United States
Mobile gambling has quickly grown popular in the US. Many casinos now have apps that enable gamblers to roll the dice or play card games for real money from any location – some even allow offline play! Mobile casinos provide a convenient alternative for those wanting to avoid paying high casino site fees.
Modern cell phones are mini PCs equipped with full operating systems, heavy-duty processors and high-resolution color displays. While expensive, these phones provide constant Internet access as well as some gambling games built-in.
Recent research showed that use of simulated gambling apps encouraged people to gamble more. The authors speculate this may be because simulated games rely on similar cognitive and motivational factors as real money gambling while being faster and cheaper to play. This finding has important ramifications for responsible gambling interventions that rely on interrupting play or disseminating messages about its risks.
Cell phones have become an increasingly convenient means of running gambling games and are much simpler to transport than computers. Modern smartphones boast touchscreen technology and can run complex programs such as video poker that require powerful processors to process its graphics; Android and iOS operating systems can support multiple applications at the same time.
Software vendors anticipate wireless gambling will begin in sports betting, such as betting on team matches and horse races, before expanding to lottery and casino games like blackjack, slots, baccarat and roulette. They believe live streaming video of teams and events should become possible once 3G networks can handle data demands for these services. Once sports betting takes off in sports, lottery software vendors expect this sector to flourish further with mobile versions of their products available to be purchased by customers – and live video streams should become possible with time. The second target will likely be lottery and casino games such as blackjack slots baccarat & roulette as these already have mobile versions of their products available and are actively working to develop additional versions.
Despite these difficulties, mobile gambling is growing quickly in the US. Some US states have legalized placing bets on horse races, soccer matches and other major sporting events via mobile. Others have created legal mobile casinos where users can bet real money on various casino games – not online but rather apps within licensed casino properties – New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan are home to such legal mobile casinos with multiple operators offering their services.