Mobile betting spells big bucks

According to Juniper Research, a group of market research analysts, the total income generated from worldwide bets through mobile phones will touch $16 billion a year by 2011.

The online gaming industry has suffered a massive blow after the introduction of the US Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in 2006. It has forced many leading internet gaming to search for alternative sectors of the gambling market in order to avoid downfall in profits.

The advent of UIGEA has definitely affected online gambling in US. There are also visible impacts of the suppression of the growing mobile channel. Many of the leisure brands which had the mobile channel in the spotlight in the beginning of 2006 changed their course of development in the second half of the year.

Juniper's report also brought in the limelight the fact that Europe is the largest mobile gambling market in the world with $665 million placed in bets in 2006. UK is expected to experience the most significant period of growth in the European gambling market.