The latest trends in online marketplaces are regularly placed in the spotlight, none more so than trends in online gambling. This massive marketplace has continued to surprised researchers for years, and with development in mobile channels, continues to surprise even more. The latest trends and development findings from yStats.com has found that this sector continues to grow. No BIG surprises there! Even gambling on social networking sites such as Facebook is getting a good deal of attention.

The increase in use of smartphones and tablets is topping the charts, so too is the use of this technology, increasing both gambling and sports-betting numbers. Currently live, or what we call "brick and mortar" casinos, are still dominating this scene, however, real money gambling online is expected to grow at double-digit rates into the future. Experts are predicting a growth rate of 40% or more by the year 2018, which is not so terribly far down the line.

Besides smartphones, tablets, and the growth spurt that this technology has engendered. There is ever increasing pressure for countries that ban online gambling, to change their regulatory landscapes. Regulations are varied throughout the world, with North America lagging way behind in an industry that in the UK has been legal for years. In fact the UK leads the way’ miles ahead of the rest of the world! Western European countries have some regulations in place, while Asia also lags behind. The pressure is on from both the industry and people who wish to gamble online, to lift anti-online gambling laws, as well as regulate this industry. The argument for regulation is not so that only Governments have better controls, but that players enjoy more protection too.

When speaking about the growth in popularity of gambling online, and its continued success as an online industry leader, we are talking in numbers off Billions of Dollars. It is precisely for this reason that many Governments do not want to legalise and regulate. Why? Well, despite the fact that "moral" arguments are most often espoused, the real reason seems to be Government greed. Online industry is slightly more difficult to control in terms of taxation, as the British Government have found out to their great loss.

But as more advanced tech becomes available, it makes the industry easier to audit and control. However, it seems that most governments around the world would rather have no taxable income from this industry at all, rather than a small slice of something huge.

For years we have been seeing exponential growth in the online gambling market, and a recent report released in the UK only confirms this for us yet again. Since 2008 when £1.27 billion was the number, this industry has grown to be generating a pretty impressive £2 billion in 2012. This is an 80% revenue growth. Internationally the business is worth a whopping £30 Billion.

William Hill claims to hold the largest market share in this UK industry. They are certainly one of the “Betting Giants” in the bricks and mortar biz, where online they control approximately a 15% share. This does not seem like a huge percentage in the bigger scheme of things, but the other large betting brands fall behind by 4% and more. This is quite a big deal when we are looking at figures in the Billions of pounds range.

The most dominant revenue spinner in the UK online gambling market place is sports betting, this has been the case for quite some time. It is also the fastest growth sector, with a high percentage of bets being placed from mobile phones – mostly smartphones. Online/mobile sports betting makes up for a total of 44% of the entire online gambling industry in this country! It has grown by a massive 102%, and is estimated alone to be worth £1 billion!!

Because the industry is such a massive revenue spinner, we have previously reported that the UK Government also wants to get in with a chance to win. Although nothing is concrete as yet, they are contemplating changing the law to lower taxes for online operators. We think this is a case of too little – too late. Gibraltar does not – they are resisting changes to UK Gambling Laws, and understandably so. They stand to lose a huge slice of this industry should UK developers, and operators up and leave from their shores.

Gibraltar has tried to ensure that the EU encourages the UK to drop new draft Gambling Tax Legislation. The Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association have even threatened legal proceedings should the new laws ever be enacted. The current UK daft proposals could see significant changes taking place, including removing “White Listing”, as well as requiring all offshore operations to be secondary licensed to offer gaming to residents in the UK.

Gibraltar is an island state that is White Listed which means, they enjoy status as a recognised UK gambling jurisdiction. If White Listing status was removed, taxation was dropped, and or secondary licensing became required, the well-establish Gibraltar online gambling industry might suffer quite significantly.

Predictions regarding the popularity and expected growth of mobile gambling have been pretty spot-on. Even though this boom got started a little later than predicted, this was only because the ideas and innovation were ready before the technology was. Now ideas and innovation are totally tying in with technology, and as once was expected this is going to be the next big internet gambling wave of growth. Websites offering mobile gaming options are already showing proof of this, with leaps in profit margins in some instances of 300% and more.

The big prediction is that the mobile gambling channel with be a $100 Billion Market by the year 2017. Why should we believe any different when the evidence is all there. Every time we turn on the television there is an advert for gambling online, and now for the mobile version of these games too. Not only that, we see it spread across gigantic billboards, see it in newspapers (if we read these), and also in magazines. Mobile gambling is here, and it appears it is here to stay.

It really is of no surprise that this business is predicted to top $100 billion within the short space of just five years. But what is kit exactly that makes this form of gambling so appealing to so many people? Basically any savvy casino should offer the capability of mobile real money gambling to their customers – why? Because virtually everyone, throughout all income groups, social sectors, and demographic has access to a mobile phone!

Even granny and grandpa are on mobile today. We all take our mobiles wherever we go, and check them all the time. We take them to the bathroom, to work, to restaurants, into meetings, check them in bed, and the big thing is that we don’t just use them to check up on granny and grandpa, we use them to entertain us.

It has been speculated that nearly half of the mobile phone users for example in the UK – make use of a smartphone. The people who own them might not be that smart, but the phones definitely are. They can be used to connect to the internet, access Facebook, Google stuff, and people, are getting smarter, they are using their mobile devices to connect to the internet more regularly. This function was available, but ignored just a few years ago.

The big appeal for mobile gambling or any kind of gambling at all, is that people can win prizes. Imagine getting involved in a game or two when on the commute home from work, and winning a prize? Well, people are doing it all of the time! Who doesn’t like winning prizes – especially if it is money? And who hates having nothing to do on the commute from work home?
Yes, today you don’t have to get home, get dressed and then commute again to the bright lights of the casino. Mobile gambling has done this for us, it is safe, easy, convenient and a rewarding way for many to end their day with a little light entertainment.