Technavio’s latest market research report on the global online gambling market provides an analysis of the most important trends expected to impact the market outlook from 2017-2020. Technavio defines an emerging trend as a factor that has the potential to significantly impact the market and contribute to its growth or decline.

Gambling laws in most countries are complex, and these laws were created before there was a concept of online gambling, thus rendering them irrelevant in the present context. The easing of regulations on gambling in countries around the world is an important trend that will drive the market during the forecast period.

“The global online gambling market is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 9% during the forecast period. The increasing penetration of the Internet and an increase in the disposable income of the users is helping the market to grow. Furthermore, online gambling gives access to users irrespective of their physical location,” says Ujjwal Doshi, a lead analyst at Technavio.

The top three emerging market trends driving the global online gambling market according to Technavio research analysts are:

► increasing usage of bitcoins as currency
► technological advances in online gambling market
► increasing social gambling.

As of 2016, the online gambling operators were open to various currencies including dollars, euros, and pound. It enabled the gamblers to upload and withdraw the desired currency. However, it did not eliminate the currency conversion charges, and it did not protect the operators from significant currency devaluation.

These factors have led to the popularity of bitcoins in the online gambling market, as they are being considered a better solution for online transactions. Bitcoins are also useful in maintaining the anonymity of the users and enable them to perform transactions more securely.

Technological advances in online gambling market

Technological advances continue to have a strong impact on the online gambling market. Technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are becoming popular in the online gambling market.

With increasing advancements and improvements in the Internet and mobile data networks, the users have the liberty to play online gambling games on smartphones, tablets, and laptops. At the same time, virtual reality and augmented reality allow users to get an incredible casino experience.

Increasing social gambling

To protect gamblers from extensive gambling online, the government in various parts of the world have prohibited the use of social media for gambling purpose. However, online gambling through social media was one of the most popular and profitable segments for the vendors. Thus, operators are focusing on launching gambling apps and games that make use of virtual money to protect the users from wagering real-money online.

Social gambling games simulate real-life wagering and protect the users from sharing and using real money for the purchase of in-game currencies and extra credits. Social media is also perfect to promote products on the mass market.

Before commencement of the games, the users are required to accept the terms and conditions that allow the developers to promote their game and company through the social media profile of the user. Some of the popular social gambling games are Betting Billionaire, DoubleDown Casino, MyVegas, and Zynga Poker.

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