::: June 2005
A new Mobile Gambling section of the "Internet Gambling Report" VIII edition has been published written by Gareth Wong, you can get your own copy from River City Group.

I have been busy with consultancy work, conference speaking and writing opinion articles/book, what I have written on the rest of this page back in 2004 are still surprisingly valid. Please feel free to get in touch should you need the latest opinion/advise.

Gambling, Gamebling & Gaming, the new 3Gs

This is set to become the most prevalent business market with exponential growth within UK and indeed for the rest of the world. I have not come across any of the research companies that use the above classification, yet no doubt they will be devising a new report very soon (for a reasonable sum of course).

It is without argument that there is a constant change of political and social climate worldwide regarding how companies, government, and society see the different types of gaming/gambling (I define this as one who place a wager and pay money for the enjoyment and potential return for winnings).

For me, it is natural to take the previous 'girls' of the 3Gs to replace it by the new category of Gamebling, as it instantly takes away for some a 'morality' issue, and consequently, we can more concentrate on the 'business issues' instead (of course now we are also faced with the 'responsibility' issues instead.

Click here to go straight to information on a risk free first consultation.

What is Gamebling??

For me, it means using games (skill, or skill and chance combined) as the basis of gambling, where small wagers are placed (1 dollar/pound/local currencies or less) anywhere (via mobile/online/iTV) interactively for a potential payout of something that is of 'value' to the players (prizes or money).

Gamebling players could be using this form of gambling as a past-time, and indeed gaming operators could use gamebling to 'train' future potential gambling players (although I trust that they in fact serve as a new games category as there is not much empirical proof that bingo players could 'graduate' to become a casino player).

The challenge is how do gaming operators do this responsibly and ensure that they would only target demographics that are above the legal age of gambling (e.g. in UK it would be 18 years old). Hence, I encourage people to familiarise themselves with initiatives like GamCare.

Why go mobile??

The country that has the most penetrated broadband in the world as of 2004 is Korea, where there is about 70% population, but for most of the developing and developed world, there is already 80-100% penetration of mobile.

The kind of mobile services available to this vast market depends on the combination of the capability of the equipment and the target audience's ability to use the mobile itself (SMS, WAP & J2ME or BREW etc.) if we assume that the mobiles are already properly set-up etc. Plus the fact that each mobile travels 'with' the users most of the time, this is a 'personal' delivery channel of content!

Therefore, this provides un-matched reach and channel to a market which at present betting operations, casinos, bingo and lottery operators are only starting to investigate the potential of, mainly by 'dipping' their toes or indeed watching their competitors' efforts closely.

Why go iTV??

At present, the only company that is really doing well on interactive TV within the gaming/gambling space is SKY, with their captive audience and the fact that they already have billing and direct marketing relationships with 7 million-plus subscribers. All other players are fighting for the 'red button' (industry sources report 15-30% of present subscribers are users) and channel share.

For dedicated channels, AVAGO (now part of YooMedia group) had been the pioneer but even SKY is now competing directly with their own channel with William Hill to be joining in the fray very soon (enabled by DITG, the company behind AVAGO/YooMedia), therefore, it will be an exciting time within this space, but in my humble opinion, it is more a PR, reputation and market positioning exercise rather than real bottom or top line activities for the short term.

Real opportunity I reckon is offered by the HomeChoice network in UK, but sadly, they are still busy rolling out their video/TV on demand network, but not yet considering moving into the content space, one could argue that it could be a big mistake.

What are the industry priorities?

Amongst others, below are some of the key priorities:

A.) Address the legal framework. UK is at present doing a fantastic job. I sincerely hope that the 'balance' will be right, by balancing between taxation, liberalisation, regulations and international respectfulness

B.) To be 'responsible' in offering 3G services to ensure that companies are in the position to spot any likely vulnerable people and provide the appropriate actions (stop underage gaming) and help (manage potential problem gambling). That's why I am a friend of GamCare.

C.) Continuously having dialogues between parties within vendors/service providers/government and leading research institutions to understand each other's perspective. One good way of doing that would be to join the Society for the study of gambling, of which I am also a member.

Best options for new comers?

For up and coming companies, key would be to project and 'guess' what the future market growth will be coming from, and how existing companies within the value chain would respond to the growth and how they may re-position or launch new products. We can then devise the appropriate corporate and new product strategy to capitalise on the opportunities.

Or of course, interested companies can also request my 'niche finder service'.

Best options for existing industry players?

My suggestions are as follows:

1.) Follow the money now: KNOW what your business is, where you can squeeze the margin or deliver better products and services, and concentrate on that as core activity.

2.) Position for the money: given the advent of mobile, online and iTV, one will need to decide where are the potential growth (near & long term) of the market is, what is the likely profile of the new target audience (e.g. professional women?), and what access channels and products would they prefer?

3.) Devise an appropriate M&A strategy now, so that financially and resource-wise, one could move quickly when the opportunities present themselves.

Interesting industry related Links:

Journal of Gambling Study, interesting research papers, payable, focused on problem gambling research.

Remote Gambling Association (previously Interactive Gaming, Gambling and Betting Association), the key trade association for our industry.

The National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) is the key responsible gaming/ research organisation for North America.

The Responsibility in Gambling Trust is a key trust that helps our gambling gambling industry.