Author: Anton Johan
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If someone had told you two decades ago that in the future billions of people
around the world - in both first world and developing countries - would own
mobile phones, many of which could connect to the internet as well as take and
send high quality pictures and video, you'd probably have called them crazy.
But that's exactly how mobile phone technology has evolved, and continues to
evolve, as more and more state-of-the-art smart phones are being developed and
released each year, with an enormous range of functions once limited to PCs and
notebooks, and more.
And given the groundbreaking and innovative history of Apple Inc, the brain
child of the late Steve Jobs, it's not surprising that this California-based
company is one of the frontrunners when it comes to smartphone technology, its
hugely popular and iconic iPhone range being proof of this.
iPhones Offering Real Money Casino Games
Thanks to Apple's novel and ever-growing app store, there is no limit to the
variety of apps iPhone users can download across a wide range of categories that
include music, games, books, finance, business, medical, sports and even more
recently, real money casino games.
Although virtual gambling is banned in Apple's home country, in the UK, where
the popular pastime has been legalised and regulated for some years, Apple is
planning to launch an app offering real money slot games to iPhone users
in the UK. In the next few weeks Apple will add the Big Fish Casino app to its
store, a virtual real money online casino developed by Seattle-based Big Fish
Games Inc.
Up to now a slew of play money casinos have been available to download at
Apple's App store, this will be first US-developed dedicated casino to offer
players the chance to play slot games for real money. While leading UK
bookmakers like William Hill and Betfair already have real money betting and
gambling iPhone apps for UK users, Big Fish Casino will be the first dedicated
real money casino.
UK iPhone Users Awaiting Big Fish Casino
As such, gamblers in the UK who own iPhones are reportedly champing at the bit
for the casino to make its debut. In the short term, Big Fish Games Inc will
undoubtedly enjoy a big boost in its turnover with the release of its Big Fish
Casino iPhone app, while in the long term, the launch will change the landscape
of mobile gambling on iPhones forever.
Because if Big Fish proves to be as
popular as expected, you can bet that most virtual casino game vendors in the
world will push to release their own real money casino apps for iPhone, as well
as all other smart phone vendors. And if and when the United States legalises
and regulates virtual gambling, the smart phone gaming market will truly be
thrown wide open, given the nation's high number of iPhone and other smart phone
users, and love of gambling.
In fact, according to Juniper Research, which is based in the UK, global
gambling on smart devices by 2017 could be worth as much as $100 billion per
year, which compared to the $20 billion the activity generated in 2011,
demonstrates how 'gambling on the go' is still in its infancy.
As more people opt to gamble on their smart devices rather than visit bricks
and mortar casinos, or even gamble using their PCs and notebooks, there really
is no limit to the potential of smartphone gambling in the years to come.
Posted by Anton Johan at 10:21 on 22 August 2012
