Mobile Casino Games and Social Gaming Revolution

If you’re 35+ years old, you remember the days before computers, cell phones and tablets took over your household entertainment. You know what it was like before the internet, before mobile casino games, before CDs and DVDs replaced cassette tapes and VHS movies.

When I was a kid, we played outside. When it rained, we played Crazy 8’s or Go Fish with our siblings, helped our parents do chores around the house, and played poker with our grandparents at the kitchen table. It was a communal era, when people got together and founded their own entertainment.

We were also an early generation of console video gamers, but we didn’t get a lot of time to play since our parents kicked us off the living room TV after dinner. Then we all sat around together and watched whatever sitcom was scheduled for that evening.

Today, many people seem to have lost that joy of friendship, togetherness and quality time with the family. Camaraderie has been replaced with handheld technology. Fortunately, there’s one thread that’s still holding it all together – social gaming.

Social Gaming Keeps Us In Touch

Look at any crowd of waiting people. Chances are more than half of them are tapping and swiping away at a smartphone or tablet. It’s a great way to pass the time when you’re out and about, waiting on one thing or another.

Thanks to the social gaming and networking revolution, there’s a good chance 50% of those people are talking to, or playing games online, with friends or family. The other half are probably playing mobile casino games, one of the other most popular forms of digital gaming to date.

Mobile Gaming Climbs To #1

According to Digital Trends, the mobile gaming industry soared past console and PC gaming in 2016 for the first time in the never-ending race for digital entertainment supremacy. Combined, all screen-based forms of gaming entertainment racked up a staggering US$91 billion in sales last year.

Mobile casino games, social gaming and everything else found on the Android and iOS app stores generated the largest portion of that revenue, coming in at US$40.6 billion. To put that into perspective, in 2016, mobile gaming generated more revenue than the global movie box office ($38bn), and nearly three times more than the music industry ($15.1bn).

PC games came in a close second with US$35.8 billion, while the console games genre paled in comparison, valued at just US$6.6 billion.

Mobile Gaming Revolution

Why is the mobile gaming industry growing at such a rapid pace? It’s not a trick question. In fact, the answer is plain as day.

We are a busy people, with busy lives that take us all over the map, day in and day out. We may have grown up playing Nintendo, PlayStation or XBox, but it’s not so easy to find time to sit in front of a television screen or desktop computer for any respectable amount of time.

If you think that kind of time is hard to come by, try carving out enough hours from the day to visit a land-based casino. That won’t happen very often, either.

We never leave home without our smartphones, though. Anytime, anywhere, we can whip out a phone and play mobile casino games like lots, blackjack, roulette, craps, you name it. We can wager on the day’s sporting events, place a bet on an international down’s trifecta, or play bingo with our mates in Australia.

We can hook up with friends on social networks like Facebook, compete against them in games that mimic our old board-based favorites, Scrabble, Sorry, Uno, Dominos, the list goes on.

Whether you play the freebies (with optional in-app purchases, of course), dole out a few bucks for premium games, or risk your fortune on casino apps, everyone seems to be joining the mobile casino games and social gaming revolution.