Mobile Gaming in India Projected to Hit $5 Billion

The mobile gaming sector has proven to be a strong indicator of where mobile casinos and social gambling is headed. While there is a lot of hype around virtual reality gambling as a concept a recent study into mobile gaming in India by Sequoia Capital out of the US shows the sector has a lot of untapped potential.

 The Mobile Cash Cow

Despite the American and Chinese mobile gaming markets currently being larger than India, the Sequoia report focused on the region’s growth potential. India has shown a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 55%, a result which far outstrips its peers which only showed a CAGR of 38% over the same period.

The most promising indicator in this discussion is the fact that of the $1.8 billion spent on mobile games in India more than 80% of that comes from players spending money in-game. A base of customers with a propensity to spend money on gaming for entertainment is one of the key indicators for any gambling provider looks for.

With over 300 million active players, and revenue growing by 500% between 2016 and 2020 the market prediction is that by 2025 India’s mobile gaming community will be worth $5 billion. As online casino providers know that will translate well into the mobile gambling market given the country’s love of games of chance.

Live Dealer Growth Potential

In a discussion on their findings' authors of the report, Prachi Pawar and Pushpak Kedia of Sequoia said:

“There’s also a strong correlation between sociability and spend… These gamers tend to gravitate towards real money gaming, which is key.”

The desire to combine social interaction with mobile gaming is a phenomenon that has been a strong contributing factor in the groundbreaking success of live dealer casino games.

While live game developers are already active in the mobile space the prediction of mobile gaming in India expanding to become a $5 billion standalone market could see an influx of regional games as we’ve seen with recent Teen Patti and Andar Bahar releases.

Not only will the development of these games appeal to the growing mobile orientated Indian market but also have the halo effect of attracting new Western players who appreciate new and “exotic” gambling games.

 Mobile Casino Investment

The report notes that close to 90% of the $400 million invested by mobile gaming came from VC’s and other corporate investment groups looking to bypass the hit or miss nature of larger pc game developments.

With the ongoing regulation and legislation of the online gambling industry and the growth of mobile gambling revenues, there is always the potential that mainstream investment groups begin to add mobile gambling brands to their investment portfolios.