Governments across Asia are lifting restrictions on gambling on mobile phones...according to Informa Telecoms & Media global revenue from mobile gambling will increase from $1.2 billion in 2005 to $7 billion in 2010. Europe will be the largest market, with $3.2 billion of revenue followed by the Asia-Pacific region which will see $2.7 billion in revenue as users increase from 22.1 million to 96.7 million.
“Typically, the profile of mobile game play here is not one of long-term, high-value gambling. It’s a short-term, burst of entertainment,” Zinder said, pointing out that a typical player will be a male aged between 25 and 45, who only plays for 10 minutes at a time. “He’s usually killing time while waiting for a bus or a meeting to start,” he said. The cost depends on how much the carrier charges for a data connection.