There’s an app for everything these days, literally everything.
Want to check the weather on the other side of the world? No problem. Want to monitor your heart rate as you do sports? There’s an app for that. From editing photos to sending money, there’s an app for your phone that makes your life easier. It can get bewildering; there are passwords to remember, updates to do, and you might find having an app for everything makes life much more complicated.
One area in which apps have helped the industry grow is in iGaming. By iGaming, we mean online casinos, poker and roulette, offering a huge range of games once only found in a physical location. They’ve been on the rise for the last two years thanks to the recent pandemic; physical locations closed, driving new players to their phones for casino games. The AGA reveals that in the first nine months of 2021, as we moved away from restrictions, iGaming still generated $2.62bn in revenue, up 145% for the same period in 2020.
That’s massive growth by any standards, and it isn’t just the pandemic that has driven the industry. App providers are becoming savvier when looking to retain customers but expanding the range of games available to the player. A decade ago, Facebook was the world’s most downloaded app, and gamers found their range of games through the social media giants. Now, more developers are producing bespoke gaming app.
Some providers now offer live casino games, with real dealers utilizing the latest technology to produce an authentic casino experience. Others have branded games, such as the Ladbrokes casino app available on Google Play. Along with the likes of roulette and blackjack, the app also allows you to play specially branded slots, such as Frankie Dettori’s Magic Seven Jackpot. By trading on popular branding, developers hope to attract new customers. By having a range of games, standard casino fayre and otherwise, they hope to offer enough to retain those customers.
Another reason online gaming apps have become popular is the offers they produce to draw customers in. Many will give you money when you sign up to play with, usually a few dollars to get you started. By taking advantage of these offers, players have the illusion of playing for free, at first, which extends their gaming time. Once their ‘free’ money has run out, they might still wish to remain on the app to play one of the other variety of games.
The growth of online gaming apps is also being helped by the relaxation of certain legislation around the US. Sports wagering is becoming commonplace in many states with restrictions easing, and one method of interacting is via an online app. In other countries, where iGaming laws are more relaxed, sports fans often have several apps on their mobile device for different providers. Some even take advantage of the free offers, wagering on the outcome of a game differently on two providers to maximize profits.
That’s not been seen regularly here in the US yet, but gaming apps will become more common and easier to access as providers expand and enter more states. The iGaming market shows no signs of slowing down. Still, it can only grow through the ongoing rise of the gaming app, facilitating iGaming for citizens everywhere, whether on roulette, poker, online slots or sport’s wagers.
