Mobile gaming is the new frontier of the sector and the operators will have to take it into account, further improving their offer.
And first, the user experience. Experts say that. It is in the public eyes (and pockets). Whether we want or not, smartphones changed the lives of all of us, the way we relate to relatives and friends, share our experiences or simply everyday life, starting with the consumption world. Gaming is no exception, which has immediately seen the possibility of growth in the "mobile" market. Data released in April by the Politecnico di Milano's Osservatorio del Gioco Online confirm this trend, promoted together with the Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monpoli (Adm) and Sogei, the Ministry of Economy and Finance's in-house information and communication technologies company, the technological partner of the Agency in gaming sector. Marco Planzi, director of the Osservatorio, comments the numbers for Gioco News, providing further reflections on the potential and development possibilities of this sector. "We see a significant growth in online gaming, albeit with some delay compared to other sectors of entertainment and digital economy (mobile commerce is already worth €2.8 billion in Italy). Consumers have already changed their habits for a long time and use smartphones and tablets for a lot of activities that they previously had with and without the PC. As regards gaming, offer has been the main driver of mobile growth over the last few years. Operators started to invest with conviction in apps and websites with a good gaming experience, suitable for peculiarities of smartphones and tablets. Precisely for this reason, gaming volume via mobile has grown in a country like Italy where the population already has a large number of devices". According to the report, the value of the online regulated gaming market with cash prize in 2016 was of €1.03 billion, with a growth of 25 percent compared to 2015 and an incidence of 5.4 percent on the overall value (offline plus online) of gaming. With an increase in expense of 35 percent for casino games and of 31 percent for sports betting, while poker records minus 5 percent. In particular, in terms of expense, mobile gaming reaches in 2016 €233 million, growing of 50 percent. The penetration rate on the market increases to 23 percent, compared to 19 percent in 2015. 84 percent of the expense is generated on smartphones, which have now become the main mobile gaming channel, while in 2013 the effect of this device was of 57 percent. At this point, the next question to be asked to Planzi is what might be the future developments of mobile segment. "The Osservatorio expects further growth in the next years. Smartphones with better computing capacity and larger screens, 4G and 5G connections, consumers more and more accustomed to these devices will push operators to further improve gaming offer". This fact will force gaming manufacturers to adapt, despite some have so far chosen to not invest in smartphone and tablet applications. "On the Italian market, many operators have developed apps for those games that require a complex and high-quality user experience. This can include roulette, poker, blackjack or slots. These are games where the quality of user experience is crucial and in this field applications have better performances than mobile websites because they better exploit the potential of the device. Unfortunately, they need to be installed and today it may be very expensive to promote an application to be installed (and then used) by a user. On the contrary, if we think to sports betting, gaming experience is quite simple and limited to just a few clicks, and mobile websites are particularly appropriate for this type of gaming. We still have to say that user experience of mobile websites has improved in recent years, thanks to better devices with wider screens and higher processing capacity than the past", Planzi ends. Box The rise of mobile, the link with retail In addition to the studies conducted by the Politecnico di Milano's Osservatorio sul gioco online, the research and market analysis company, Doxa, gives a specific focus on mobile gaming, highlighting habits and behaviors of those who choose this modality. New online players are largely "retail" players, coming for 75 percent from bars and gaming halls, and 45 percent of them now pleads an exclusive online player. The convenience of playing "anywhere/anytime" (47 percent), "curiosity" (35 percent), and "opportunity to play from smartphones and tablets" (31 percent), without exceeding, attract them. In this case, in fact, there is a lower weekly gaming frequency on all games than the market as a whole, less accounts are refilled (1.4 vs. 1.7 of the total) and they spend less (€42 compared to the 53 of market average). Looking at the habits of new players in detail, we see that 68 percent of them "always/sometimes" choose smartphone and tablet in 65 percent of cases, compared to 62 percent of total volumes. Use of apps is at 59 percent versus 71 percent from smartphones and 52 percent versus the average 63 percent from tablets. As regards players' behavior, Doxa has developed a market segmentation based on their selection criteria of the operators and on the motivations that led them to play online. Five types are recognized, from "enthusiastics" to "basic". The first ones account for 13 percent of players, they are a high intensity gaming and particularly opportunist target, very linked to the bonuses offered, and younger than others, so many "mobile oriented" (85 percent plays from smartphones, 77 percent from tablets) and with an average expense of €65, against the average of 52. At the other end of the market, "basic" ones, representing 16 percent of players preferring bets and PCs, using the smartphone only in 50 percent of cases and 43 percent using the tablet. But the biggest mobile gaming users are the "informed" (13 percent of the market): 51 percent of them are under 35, love poker (59 percent) and play for 88 percent from smartphones and for 81 percent from tablets. For them, the ease of mobile gaming is the first driver to choose an operator. In the middle of this ranking there are the "comfortable" ones, 28 percent of the target, using mobile a little, and shy ones, representing 30 percent of the market, where there is a certain predilection for casino games (40 percent) and where the female percentage (30 percent) is higher and that of exclusive online players, with 45 percent.