There have been considerable advances in the world of online gambling. The very first online casinos hit the internet in the mid-1990s and it started the ball rolling to where we are today, with thousands of low wagering casino bonuses on BST available.
Gambling in India is state-oriented and therefore the overall landscape in the country is quite varied. Currently, three states, Sikkim, Goa and Daman have physical casinos, while in 2023, research found that Maharashtra provided the most online casino players in the country.
Telangana's residents meanwhile produced the highest volume of registered online sports bettors, accounting for almost a quarter of all traffic in the country. While it’s no real surprise that the most populous states contribute the highest percentage of players, part of the popularity and growth of online gambling has been through mobile developments.
The Rise of Mobiles
Mobile gambling was not a thing when online casinos, racebooks and sportsbooks were trying to gain online momentum back in the mid-90s. Through the early days of the shift from traditional physical bookmaking to online, bettors had to find a quick enough home computer with a reliable connection.
But the popularity of mobile phones has changed the landscape entirely. Now people never need to be without a casino to hand. Helping that shift was the fact that mobile phones were immediately a new gaming platform for a lot of people.
From simple games to any of the graphics-rich features that can be found on Google Play or the App Store today, phones have driven a massive new wave of interest in online gaming. That opened a door for online casino sites to walk through.
Gen Z in the Driving Seat?
Gen Z is cited as being the driving force of the current digital age. So it’s not too surprising that those born from 1997 onwards have embraced the world of mobile gambling. Excellent technology would have readily been there for them, something extremely familiar, more so than to Millennials.
Millennials would have come through the early days of the computer revolution but also would have had to trundle along with the changes in technology. Largely thanks to the Gen Z demographic, it’s projected that the online sports betting market alone is expected to show an annual growth rate of almost 10% and to reach more than 17 million players by 2027.
Simply put, it's phenomenal growth and the industry is just going from strength to strength. Mobile technology gives anyone with any kind of disposable income a means to dip into popular sports betting markets like the IPL or into popular online casino play. The staggering amount of platforms to bet on is another big factor.
Live Bets
One of the most popular elements of mobile betting is live bets. The increase in betting patterns towards live bets has been rapid. The convenience of having a mobile sportsbook to hand, where live odds can be jumped on easily, is one of the major reasons why wagering on devices as opposed to a home computer has become so much more popular.
This is trackable by popular months as well. The early months of the year when the new season of the Indian Premier League cricket comes along, is when a spike in live betting occurs, showing the major link between the top league and betting. Access to sports through live streams are so readily accessible, it also boosts the natural tendency to lean on live in-play bets as well.
Bright Casino Futures
Casinos for Indian players are only going to get better and better too. The future from a technological standpoint looks fascinating. There’s potentially augmented reality and virtual reality casino play to come.
Already cryptocurrency is a widely accepted form of payment at online casinos, and the computing power of AI is only going to make games, their mechanics and features even more impressive.
Fantasy Sports The Next Big Wave?
One of the biggest areas for the future of online gambling in India is likely to be fantasy sports. This is an area that is on the up in terms of growth, and by 2027 it is expected to have a turnover of more than double than it was in 2019. There is a massive social aspect to Fantasy sports, as players can compete against friends and family.
Fantasy sports like cricket in India, is where a user creates a fantasy team of IPL players for example. Fantasy points are awarded for the real-life performances of the players, and therefore users can have their selected teams compete against others based on those scoring systems.
It’s straightforward and already a massive phenomenon in the US. The platforms are already there, it’s classed as a skill-based game by the Indian Supreme Court, so is not going to run into legislative walls, which of course naturally has huge appeal. So it wouldn’t take a lot for fantasy sports betting apps to start to dominate the Indian market even more.
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