Sudden Impact: App Competition and Offerings are Rapidly Diversifying

The revolutionary impact of the mobile is well-known in iGaming, with the app being the key contributor to the next layer of tech-driven growth for iGaming.

Operator Adaptation

Operators have invested no small amount of time in gaining a foothold in the emerging app phenomenon, as the most effective way to deliver gaming benefits to the widest range of players, in an expanding regulatory environment—with online app popularity increasing accordingly.

App Provider Adaptation

The two main app providers at this point are Google and Apple, with both companies moving away from a resistance stance to adopting gambling apps when it became apparent that users were going to access gaming sites form their mobile devices no matter what.

App Store Guidelines

Both Google and Apple have key sets of rules for their casino apps—as app store requirements which they hold their app developers to before listing in either store.

Regulatory Influence

All casino apps are further required to belong to a licensed and regulated casino operator.

Added Benefits

The preset regulatory and store guidelines have enabled expansion of the amount of games; the type of games; and the bonuses and promotions available to players through casino apps.

Market Growth

The market growth is palpable in 2020, with Apps Flyer research revealing that all genres of app purchase shows increases in revenue for IAP IN-App Purchases--with the Casual Gaming app category leading all apps with 51% growth from February to April 2020, at 51%--followed Social Casino Games 36% increase in revenue found in Social Casino games.

Driver of Growth

Reduced advertising is predicted to drive app growth, as users seek out their preferred games directly across app stores instead of in response to advertising.

Emerging Category

The newest emerging app game category is Hyper Casual: the report indicates gaming studios are adding increasingly amounts of Hyper Casual games to diversify their portfolios worldwide, with the US being the fastest growing Hyper Casual gaming app market at 656% growth between 2019 and 2020.

Outlook

The integration of in-house app guidelines and local regulatory guidelines into the main app providers Apple and Google have opened the floodgates for operators to enter the competitive iGaming app marketplace and enhance the offerings available to players through apps.